2010-11 Annual Report - Taranaki District Health Board

our
people
Healthcare is about people helping people. We have a
great team of health professionals and support staff all
working together for our community.
First Dental Assistant
Cadet Begins
Taranaki DHB has appointed its first
Māori dental cadet as part of the new
Māori health and disability workforce
project Whakatipuranga Rima Rau.
This initiative addresses skill shortage
and offers training opportunities and
placements for Māori in the Taranaki
health and disability network. Cadetships
are part of the DHB workforce strategy
to increase the number of Māori working
in the health sector. They give students
the opportunity to get hands-on
experience in the health sector under
the guidance of dedicated professionals.
This particular cadetship was set up
due to the shortage of dental therapists
in Taranaki and the need to continue
to grow dental services that are more
responsive to Māori.
Senior Medical Officer
Recruitment
There has been significant success to
recruit senior medical officers into long
term to permanent positions in the last
12 months.
These include two in Obstetrics and
Gynaecology, two Internal Medicine
Physicians – Renal sub-speciality, three
Anaesthetists, two Geriatricians as well as
appointments for Emergency Medicine
and Psychiatry.
We are in discussions with senior
registrars who will complete their
vocational training in the next two to
three years to meet our succession
planning requirements. This will reduce
the time to recruit into senior medical
officer vacancies which historically has
been between two to three years to make
a permanent appointment.