Movement-building leadership for Equally Well is demonstrated by many organisations. Here we feature the Public Health Association, the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the South Island Alliance, to show what they are doing in their spheres of influence.
The Public Health Association of New Zealand
The Public Health Association of New Zealand (PHA) policy committee has recently developed and endorsed their Equally Well Policy Statement.
The PHA supports action to address the social determinants of health and wellbeing amongst marginalised populations, so that everyone has the same opportunity to be physically well.
The Policy will enable the PHA and its members to support the Equally Well principles. An example is to advocate for people who experience serious mental health and addiction issues to be a visible priority group in national and regional policies that affect health outcomes.
The Equally Well policy statement will be soon available on the PHA website.
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners
In May 2017, the Royal New Zealand College of GPs (RNZCGP) released their Equally Well Policy brief: Improving the physical health of people experiencing mental health and/or addiction issues.
The Policy highlights how GPs can contribute positively to this issue by being aware of the inequitable health outcomes, taking on a model of wellbeing-focused prescribing, actively avoiding diagnostic overshadowing, empowering patients, and working closely with other health providers.
Helen Morgan-Banda, Chief Executive of the College (pictured left), will be giving a keynote on Equally Well at the 1st Asia Pacific Conference on Integrated Care in Brisbane on 7 November 2017.
Last year at the World Congress on Integrated Care the Equally Well collaborative won the award for best paper and presentation.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians
In August 2017, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RCAP) made a call for immediate action to policymakers to make ‘health equity the norm’.
The RCAP calls on the New Zealand government to increase support for mental health in primary care, and to:
- address the systemic barriers exacerbating the physical health disparities and premature mortality experienced by people with mental health conditions and addiction
- encourage health professionals to discuss mental wellbeing with patients as part of consultations
- consider mental health and wellbeing as equal to physical health and wellbeing.
View the full call to action: Make it the norm: Equity through the social determinants of health.
The South Island Alliance Mental Health & Addictions Workgroup
The South Island Alliance MH&A Workgroup has been working collaboratively on their draft Equally Well action plan. This group is well placed to provide leadership and support to promote the Equally Well Strategy for the South Island.
The intention is to work with DHBs to provide oversight and governance to an agreed approach to enhance the impact of the Equally Well Strategy.
The proposed desired outcomes are based on the following.
- Monitoring the proportion of people prescribed psychotropic medication who have had the recommended metabolic screening and monitoring.
- Shared/integrated care processes to ensure that people whose mental health and addiction needs are being met through specialist MH&A services have good access to primary care.
- Adherence to clinical guidelines for psychotropic prescribing and specifically in relation to the impacts on physical wellbeing, and polypharmacy.
- Reporting on CVD and cancer screening rates and outcomes for people who are in contact with MH&A services as an integral part of quality improvement processes and addressing health inequities across the whole DHB.
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