The Policy, Planning and Strategic Services (PPSS) department is a relatively newly developed team within the FNHA and one that has grown and shifted significantly in the months leading up to, and following transfer.

 

PPSS was created as the FNHA prepared to assume strategic headquarters functions transferred from Ottawa to the region on July 2, 2013. These functions/teams include: Policy and Planning, Communications, Research and Knowledge Management, Strategic Services, and Regional Operations.

 

As directed by BC First Nations leadership through resolution 2012-01 the PPSS department has been focused on establishing a presence in each of the five regions, developing regional support systems, and establishing regional funding envelopes. To achieve these objectives and maximize our current resources, PPSS has implemented some important and notable changes to team structures.

 

The recruitment of 5 Regional Directors Nicole Cross (North), Lisa Montgomery-Reid (Interior), Brennan MacDonald (Vancouver Island), Michael Sadler (Fraser Salish), and Melanie Rivers (Vancouver Coastal) is now complete. Regional teams are being established, and Regional Health Liaisons (formerly the Community Engagement Team) have been reassigned to report directly to their respective Regional Directors.

 

To breathe life into the FNHA’s long term plan of supporting and enabling decision-making at a regional level, regional envelopes will be deployed in fiscal year 2013/2014 following the finalization of interim Regional Health & Wellness Plans. The regional envelopes are a mechanism to pair investment with planning by providing regions with the ability to invest in their key priority areas.

 

In the first year, only certain components of the regional envelope will be flexible funds, while other components will already be allocated (i.e. in contribution agreements). Over time as transformation of the current system and programming carries forward, the flexibility of other components of these regional envelopes will increase.

 

The second important change is the redeployment of Health Actions staff. Having achieved strategic plans in key Health Action areas, the re-assignment of Health Actions capacity to the regions signals the shift to an implementation phase of the systems transformation agenda.

 

Former Health Actions teams members have been reassigned to two new teams within the department: Policy and Planning, and Strategic Services. Former Health Actions Planners have been reassigned to the Policy and Planning department and now lend their expertise directly in support of planning efforts across the organization and in the regions. Former Health Actions Coordinators have been reassigned to the Strategic Services team to support the development and shaping of a wide range of transformative health projects and initiatives.

 

Overall, these changes represent a responsible refocusing of FNHA human resources to meet our new reality of service delivery and are important and practical next steps in the transformation and maturation of the FNHA.

 

In closing, the ongoing development of the PPSS unit creates many opportunities for the FNHA to embark upon new, exciting and previously unchartered territory. A first for Canada, assuming headquarters functions provides BC First Nations with the necessary flexibility to create meaningful change. We look forward to keeping BC First Nations updated on the ongoing developments at the FNHA.