Welcome to the Long Term Conditions Forum

This forum has great potential for bringing together new ideas and potential collaborators.I would also like to see contributors from outside Auckland both national and international.

Being open access, anyone can comment or potentially contribute. The limiting step may be usage of the site, which is very new.

Thanks Raina and Martin,
I suggest we need to inform as many interested people as we can.....then we can organise some sort of interest / advisory group. We need some mix of GPs and Specialist to drive with us. Cross the DHBs, on the regional level. This project is one of those at least regionally driven if not nationally.
Mazin

Good ideas Mazin.
Janine Bycroft has contacted me about their new website http://www.healthnavigator.org.nz  which has some overlapping goals (and seeding funding came from the 3 Auckland DHBs). I wonder whether we could amalgamate our efforts in some way - perhaps on their website, unless you think there is merit in a forum and WIKI style approach. Here is some of Janine's email:
Anyway, the reason for contacting you is to let you know what a group of us have been doing which is very similar to what you are proposing in the HIVE site.
Health Navigator NZ is a collaborative public health website focusing on optimising the prevention and management of long-term conditions. The project is being led by the Health Navigator Charitable Trust and key partner organisations include Heart Foundation, Diabetes NZ, Arthritis NZ, Mental Health Foundation, CMDHB, ADHB, Waitemata DHB, Asthma Respiratory NZ, SPARC, Webhealth. Over 100 organisations have granted permission to link to their resources. A quality framework underpins all work to ensure only resources from reputable organisations presenting balanced and reliable information or self-help resources are included.

Sounds like a great idea. I'm going to add RSS feeds from Janine's websites to the 'News Feeds' section of this site. I'll also add a "sticky" thread in this forum linking to the Health Navigator site. Let me know if there's anything else I can set up to help promote discussions and collaborations.

I was delighted to see this forum. Thanks for setting it up. I took a look at Healthnavigator and it's great.
I've been thinking about how people with long term conditions can use social media skills and technology to help manage their health. The idea implies that a person could use something like Healthnavigator and leave comments or interact with others within the website. I couldn't find anything like that - the ability to email content to someone is cool but maybe one day the website could host discussions as well.

Hi everyone,
Yes, one of the areas we would like to develop for Health Navigator NZ are communities of interest around specific conditions such as diabetes, asthma etc. Where useful discussion forums already exist, we would link to these rather than reinventing the wheel.
We are also piloting a social networking site called  the Self Management Network, where there are a range of groups and discussion forums for just what you suggest Karen.
Looking forward to catching up with everyone at the HINZ conference next week. There are a lot of synergies it would be great to discuss further.

Hi Janine, that sounds very exciting. I'd be very happy to help with your pilot if you need any help. Look forward to seeing you at HINZ.
 
Cheers,
 
Chris

I'm a member of NZ Pain Society Executive, and as a Society we are very keen to put forward accurate and accessible information on pain for people with painful conditions. 
I wish I could have been at this Conference - but I heard too late (and have a PhD proposal to put together...argh!).  I hope there will be more discussions and networking regarding chronic conditions via this forum - and that it can filter upward towards managers within DHB's, and maybe even ACC. 

Its great to see this forum in place..anything that links activities across the sector related to the use of information and technology to support long term conditions is a good thing.  Very interested in how tools like Healthnavigator can fit.
In the Midland Region a CCM-IS Programme has been recently initiated focused on long term conditions across the region.  Its scope is based on a high level requirements analysis we completed last year (search for "CCM Requirements" from the Taranaki DHB website to find it) and is currently working on a definition of key clinical data accessible to all stakeholders.  Its early days but has started well.
 
 

 Hi Folks,
 
We've implement our 'Private Groups' function now, so if there is a need for a private discussion area about Long Terms Conditions, then please let me know and we'll set up a private group.
 
Cheers,
 
Chris

Hi. Now that we know there's a lot of interest in using information technology for chronic condition management, and Chris has set up the facility to opt into closed discussion groups, what's the next step?
Regards
Karen

Hi, think it is going to be an excellent forum, I am an oversease trained doctor and been living in NZ for the last 7 years, and have been working in Mental Health for the last five years, also just  joined UOA doing PGdip health scinces part time, I am really intrested in the area of collaborative and inclusive aproach in health care settings especially mental Health, my main intrest is around health needs of the migrant community especially south asian middle eastren community, also a suggestion such group or forum could be very successful if they have representation from each community living in Auckland.