ProCare welcomes the new workforce initiative being implemented across primary care in New Zealand with the delivery of significant outcomes for general practices, patients and the community.

Sponsored by Te Whatu Ora, the Comprehensive Primary Care Team (CPCT) workforce strategy was successfully launched this year into general practices as a way to further enhance a preventative and proactive approach to supporting patients and help increase the capacity of the stretched workforce to be more responsive to health needs.

Roles included in this programme are:

• Clinical pharmacists
• Care coordinators
• Physiotherapists
• Extended care paramedics.

ProCare is delighted to be a lead provider in the enablement of this exciting initiative, working with other providers in primary care to help ensure an efficient and co-ordinated implementation.

So far in the ProCare Network, a number of healthcare practices are now benefiting from the additional workforce helping not only to get through the backlog of overdue patient care, but some have also started seeing their own patients, freeing up time for other clinical staff.

Bindi Norwell, ProCare Group CEO says, “This is a new way of working for General Practices in Aotearoa that has been tried and tested with success overseas. We have been working closely for months to get this programme up and running, so to have our first few cohorts working in practices is extremely exciting!

“Feedback from those participating practices has been extremely positive, and some of the stories we’re hearing are fantastic. With more roles being added all the time, we can’t wait to see what a difference this can make to both patients and practices,” she continues.

Henderson Medical Centre has welcomed a Clinical Pharmacist to their team who is already making a positive difference. Dee-Anne Knight, Practice Manager, says “It’s been great having a Clinical Pharmacist join us. She has already started reviewing medications and making useful suggestions to achieve better health outcomes for our patients. This is great for not only patient care, but also giving our doctors more time to review other clinical work.”

Di Rankin, Extended Care Paramedic at Tuakau Health, says “As part of the first cohort of paramedics I have to say I am very proud to be part of this initiative.”

“We have dedicated time to help triage patients into the appropriate clinics, and we can treat patients with minor ailments all the way through to life threatening conditions. With the extra set of hands in the practice, we’ve started a walk-in kid’s clinic twice a week. We’re trying to make positive changes, saving both our staff and patients time as they can see the right person for their needs.”

Paul Roseman, General Manager of Strategic Development at ProCare, says “Before placing these new health roles into our practices, we have been hosting training sessions so that the team can hit the ground running once they enter the practice environment.”

“This is a new programme, so we have been fine-tuning and making the necessary changes after each cohort to ensure we are utilising our time wisely and setting up, both the new team members and the practice they are entering, for success,” concludes Roseman.

This programme is not only benefitting practices and patients, but also giving a new excitement to healthcare workers who have been in the field for many years.