Supporting non-government organisations (NGOs)
New Zealand is fortunate to have a rich and diverse NGO sector that provides healthcare every day for users of mental health and addiction services.
Te Pou works with NGOs to help them consider what processes and infrastructure are needed to ensure collecting and using mental health information becomes an embedded and enduring part of the way we all work.
Outcome measures are as effective for NGOs as they are for DHBs to assess change in the lives of people using mental health and addiction services.
In a video on NGO perspectives of outcomes information, sector leaders, including NGO representatives, talked to Te Pou about the importance of outcomes information.
Video | NGO perspectives
Here’s what some of them said.
“We’ve got numerical information about where our clients are at but we really want to get a sense of how our clients feel about their own lives and what difference [we], as an organisation, make to clients’ lives. We also want to be able to develop our services based upon what our clients are telling us about their lives.” - Steve Catty from PACT, an NGO provider in the south of the South Island
“Outcomes need to be considered as an integral component of all that happens in an organisation – not on the fringe, not in a separate department – it needs to actually be integral.” - Rob Warriner, chief executive, Walsh Trust
“Given that NGOs are an important link in providing good services, the capacity to measure inputs, outputs and outcomes as a way of demonstrating value for money is as important for NGOs as it is for DHBs.” - Associate Health Minister Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman
“We want to see how recovery becomes more of an outcome measure – people getting jobs, people getting relationships, people getting houses; meaningful recovery.” - Lee Reygate, Equip Services Auckland
“Information is an incredibly empowering thing...service users, by having easy access to all kinds of information…are more empowered to question what’s going on, to maybe take more control over their lives, to challenge, to have a good dialogue and debate and discussion in their relationship.” - Dr Janice Wilson, former deputy director of population health
National Outcomes Forum 2012
In June 2012, Te Pou held a National Outcomes Forum. The purpose of this forum was to give district health boards (DHBs) and non-government organisations (NGOs) a platform to describe and share how they implement innovative service delivery solutions.
The theme of the 2012 forum was 'Collaborating with information to support resilient and sustainable services'.
Both international and local experts featured at the forum to share their experiences of how information and outcomes can sustain resilient services.
