Russell Simpson says he's happy to be home with his family and back in his own community. Photo / Bevan Conley
Russell Simpson says he's happy to be home with his family and back in his own community. Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui District Health Board chief executive Russell Simpson returned home at the start of February after four months in Wellington.
His time in the capital was busy, with Simpson and a 25-strong team making sure the country's health systems were ready for the next steps of the Government's Omicron response.
"I got a phone call from [Director-General of Health] Dr Ashley Bloomfield in late September last year," Simpson said.
"He wanted to second me to lead up the health system preparedness programme in response to Delta at that stage, and for any other variants that might eventuate."
Simpson said the programme's purpose was to ensure the health system was able to manage escalating case numbers.
Preserving the hospital system was also part of the plan and, to do that, a self/home isolation model needed to be implemented for those that became infected.
"That involved looking at moving away from MIQ facilities.
"It was a substantial piece of work in a short amount of time, and it also linked in with the strategy the Government had around reconnecting with the world, and opening up again."
Readiness assessments were undertaken across the country's district health boards to ensure New Zealanders had "a good summer break".
"We needed to make sure district health boards and health services were prepared for influxes over that period should community transmission emerge," Simpson said.
"The plans the team developed were agnostic to any variant, and the scenario modelling undertaken at the time did have a worst case scenario, with numbers in hundreds of thousands."
Four district health board co-ordination hubs were established across the country to manage any surges in cases, through a locally led, regionally co-ordinated and nationally supported model.
Another part of Simpson's role was to develop a funding proposal to Cabinet for care in the community.
"That's including ambulance services, community pharmacy, telehealth, digital enablers, and support for primary and community care services."
The stint in Wellington had been a larger-scale version of his role at the Whanganui DHB, Simpson said.
"There are a lot of moving parts at the same time.
"The main difference with this was the moving parts were a number of the other government agencies and departments at a national level."
Numerous video conferences with counterparts in Australia and the United States offered valuable insights for the team in New Zealand in terms of planning and preparation.
"They have experienced a lot of what we are going through now a few months back."
Two family members in Scotland had died from Omicron last year and that made the threat of Covid-19 all the more real for him, Simpson said.
"It has impacts on people's families and we need to prepare as best we can for it.
"For some it may be a mild flu. It may be a cough or a cold. For others it could be quite significant and potentially life-threatening.
"While we have confidence in our plans, we will only truly know how good they are when they are really tested. That's currently taking shape across the country as cases escalate."
Russell Simpson got the call from Ashley Bloomfield in September last year. Photo / Bevan Conley
Simpson said he was pleased that many New Zealanders with Covid-19 could now be cared for in their own surroundings.
"I've always been a believer that people recover better if they are in their own homes, and I'm really proud of what we have achieved by shifting from an MIQ model to a self isolation model.
"That's with an appropriate level of clinical care provided if they have a level of severity that warrants it."
One of the benefits of leading the national response was being able to take the information and incorporate it into local planning, Simpson said.
"That stands our district in really good light, to take the best of what I've seen over the last four months and put it into action here in Whanganui.
"We need to have capacity in our health system to manage everything else that isn't Covid-19 as well.
"People need to get seen for all the other ailments that exist or that they are subjected to, whether it be through a long-term condition or an accident."
Simpson said preparing for Covid-19 shouldn't be any different to preparing for a natural disaster, and if someone did come down with it there needed to be a plan in place.
"It's also important to have people you can call upon to drop food, medicines and supplies off, whilst you're trying to isolate from the wider community.
"As a country, Covid-19 will become endemic in our communities, and we will all become accustomed to living with it in our communities.
"We need to make sure we continue to take individual responsibility for managing ourselves when we get sick, and collectively provide support for those who can't manage themselves and need that additional help."
While everyone was entitled to an opinion on how best to cope with the pandemic, as a neurophysiologist he always trusted "the facts", Simpson said.
"In my view, that tends to lead to the best outcomes.
"There is a lot of social media portrayal of a range of issues in relation to Covid-19 that is not helpful.
"Pointing people towards reputable sources allows them to make an informed decision, rather than one that is based on an opinion piece."
Simpson said he was happy to be home with his family and back in his own community.
"Those four months were certainly dedicated to the cause.
"I didn't get a Christmas or New Year's, so I'm hoping to have time at some stage to recharge the batteries."
