Abstract
This paper recounts the changes in the New Zealand government-run health services over the past 15 years and the subsequent changes to social work leadership in mental health services. Drawing on two pieces of local research, the article will explore social work mental health leadership in New Zealand. The first piece of research investigates the views of social work professional leaders (PL) about their roles and the prospects for social work in mental health in the future. The second piece of research investigates a new type of professional leadership role in the mental health services of the Auckland District Health Board. Clinical governance is an emerging phenomenon in health services internationally that is aimed at advancing quality improvement. This paper links developments in social work professional leadership with the activities of clinical governance in mental health services. It concludes that there is evidence of an improvement to the leadership infrastructure and of the contribution of leaders to clinical governance in district health boards (DHBs). However, many challenges remain for social work leaders into the future.
Highlights
This paper recounts the changes in the New Zealand government-run health services over the past 15 years and the subsequent changes to social work leadership in mental health services
In the Auckland District Health Board (ADHB ) mental health services the role of professional advisor emerged in the late 1990s as a half-time position, which it has continued to be to the present
The combination of the roles described above strengthens the ability of the social work profession to have a strong voice in the district health boards (DHBs)-wide clinical governance system
Summary
Government-funded health structures underwent a major period of change beginning in the late 1980s with a reconfiguration along commercial lines. This strengthened the role of managers and emphasised efficiency. The Area Health Boards’ Chief Social Workers’ Association was an active voice for social work and published documents on performance appraisal and competent health practice (Daniels, 1989 and 1989). New Zealand government-funded health services are currently divided into 21 DHBs
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