A word from our Secretary | Carol Neki

Kia koutou katoa,

We have successfully navigated another year! We hope that the support of PMAANZ has positively influenced your journey and that you have felt strengthened by the camaraderie of your peers.

Our Tāmaki Makaurau branch recently held our final Christmas dinner, filled with lively discussions, laughter, and the exchange of innovative ideas. A special highlight was Bethan from Takapuna Health Centre, who graciously gave us a tour of her new practice after dinner. She shared invaluable tips and tricks on a range of topics, from selecting furniture and design suppliers to installing lifts and fingerprint door openers.

Engaging with other practices and gaining insights from their experiences is what truly enhances the value of PMAANZ.

This is our last Newsletter for the year, and we hope you all get some much-needed rest over the Christmas break. On behalf of the Tāmaki Makaurau branch, Ngā mihi o te Kirihimete me te Tau Hou.

Carol Neki | PMAANZ Executive National Secretary

A word from our Chair | Mary Morrissey

Kia ora koutou katoa

Greetings PMAANZ Members,

Big thanks to everyone who attended PMAANZ24 and helped make it such a successful event. It was great to catch up with fellow members and our amazing sponsors and exhibitors. I hope you took advantage of having them there in person and asked all the hard questions.

Here are some meetings I attended in the last few months, showcasing our organisation’s respected reputation at these influential tables. 

• GPLF - General Practice Leaders Forum
• GPNZ—General Practice New Zealand
• Capitation Re-weighting: Technical Advisory Group  
• Primary Care Sector Meeting
• PHO CEOs/GPNZ Exec meeting with Lester Levy
• Te Tāhū Hauora insights
• Primary Care Sector Engagement Group
• Collaborative Aotearoa- monthly catchup

In October, Jen & I had the pleasure of attending the AAPM24 (the Australian Association of Practice Managers) conference in Darwin. While it was incredibly hot and humid, we did manage to do a couple of touristy things: the WWII history was incredible, with Darwin having been bombed more times and with more deaths than Pearl Harbour. We also really enjoyed the Flying Doctors Museum and one of the conference dinners at Crocosaurus, where we fed some baby crocodiles. 

The conference itself is three full-on days of plenary speakers and breakout sessions, and while some are specific to the Australian healthcare system (Medicare), we do have a lot in common: workforce shortages, lack of funding, and staff burnout, to name a few. A couple of the sessions I enjoyed were “Burnout & self-reflection, gaining valuable insights and actionable strategies to complete the stress cycle, safeguard your wellbeing, and sustain professional effectiveness”, “The science of Focus—to give you unprecedented access to this critical cognitive function to unleash your full potential” and a panel discussion on Difficult Conversations with Patients and Staff.  

Their concurrent sessions are all hosted by their partners, sponsors, and exhibitors, so they were quite specific to their healthcare model. However, I did attend “Using Microsoft CoPilot M365 in Primary Care” and “Ensuring Success when Approaching Your RACGP Accreditation.” Their general practice accreditation follows the same international standards as our RNZCGP, so I found both sessions very relevant to my role at my practice.

This is just a reminder to reach out to our pool of knowledge via our Messenger groups. We now have separate ones for Allied Health, Medtech, and Indici. Flick me or Carole a message if you want to join any of those groups. You can also reach out via email, Facebook, Messenger, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

Merry Christmas and a Happy and safe New Year to you all.

Ngā mihi o te wa kirihimete me te tau hou

Mary Morrissey | Chair PMAANZ 

Welcome to our new members!

August 2024 members:

• Paula Perris - Wellington

September 2024 members:

• Kelleigh Embers - Auckland
• Florian Stroehle - Auckland
• Kalolo Haufano - Auckland
• Jacqueline Beer - Australia
• Elaine Duguid - Auckland
• Sharon Blake - Auckland
• Nadiya Barr - Waikato
• Asmitha Patchay - National

October 2024 members:

• Sophia Hilton - Auckland

November 2024 members:

• Melissa Liddle - National
• Keriana Kingi - Wellington
• Sarah Langer - Canterbury
• Chloe King - Auckland
• Piri Taimai - National

Welcome to PMAANZ!

Resilience in challenging times

Working in a health practice is a challenging environment. It’s always busy and the people you are dealing with are often stressed and facing difficult situations. Workforce shortages are affecting all areas of health, which in turn leads to pressure on your practice staff as they need to work longer hours and deal with more complex patients, often doing more with less.

The current financial environment is also impacting every practice’s bottom line. So, what can you do to support the people working in your practice?

Small things you can do to support your staff

Say thank you for a job well done.

As a practice owner or manager, one of the most effective things you can do to improve the wellbeing and resilience of your staff is to regularly show your appreciation for their work. It sounds simple but it makes a huge difference. Even if you just spend a few minutes at the start of team meetings to highlight four or five positive things that have happened around the practice since the previous meeting. And if a staff member isn’t happy about their progress in a certain area, focus on the positive. Remind them how much they have achieved rather than commiserate over what they haven’t.

Think about what could be done differently next time rather than who was at fault.

Of course, problems are going to crop up from time to time. One approach to dealing with these situations is to try to depersonalise it. Rather than apportioning blame to an individual, it is a good idea to step back and see whether the problem could be due to a fault in the systems and processes you have, and whether a similar problem in future could be avoided by tweaking your processes.

Communicate often and remember it’s a two-way street.

It’s also important to communicate well with your staff and regularly ask them how they’re getting on and whether they need help with anything. Hopefully, this will help your staff feel comfortable to speak up when things are getting difficult, allowing you to head off problems before they become insurmountable. In return, you need to ensure your staff know what you expect of them. Provide clear position descriptions with expected outcomes, give them achievable goals and make sure they have the resources required to attain them.

Resilient staff take their lead from resilient managers

Good leadership is a key factor in building resilient teams. Team leaders and managers need to be strong and committed to getting the job done but also be open, honest, and compassionate in their dealings with their teams. When your practice is going through challenging times it’s important to remember that it’s tough on everyone. Your staff will only be able to do their jobs well if they’re feeling confident in themselves and the practice.

Ultimately, their mental health and wellbeing is something staff need to take responsibility for but a well-timed word or thoughtful gesture from their manager can do wonders. At the very least, you need to be aware that your staff deal with stress in different ways and may need extra support at work. This may include directing them to the appropriate agencies where mental health support is available.

From a business perspective, your practice also needs to be set up in such a way to have the management structure and financial strength to survive setbacks. This can be achieved by thorough planning and risk assessment. All practices should undertake a regular budgeting and planning process, have a business continuity plan and review insurances covers to make sure all contingencies are covered should the worst-case scenario eventuate.

If you have any questions about resilience or planning, you can email our MAS HealthyPractice team at business@mas.co.nz or call us on 0800 800 627.

Fiona Mines

HealthyPractice Adviser, MAS

This article is of a general nature and is not a substitute for professional and individually tailored business or legal advice. © Medical Assurance Society New Zealand Limited 2024.

Healthify He Puna Waiora 

New Zealand's Trusted Health Information Platform

The Healthify He Puna Waiora website, formerly known as Health Navigator NZ, is a vital online resource supporting healthcare providers and patients/clients and whānau across New Zealand. Here’s a quick overview of its key features and benefits.

Key Features

• Aotearoa-Focused Patient Information: Comprehensive resources in easy-to-understand language on health conditions, medicines, and self-care.
• High Traffic: Over 1.1 million monthly page views.
• Zero Data Access: Essential information available without data charges.
• RNZCGP Endorsement: Validated as a reliable health information source by the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.

Resources Available

• Health Information: Clear explanations of conditions (causes, symptoms, and treatments) and diagnostic tests to improve health literacy.
• Medicines Section: Over 400 profiles detailing usage and side effects, with multilingual PDF factsheets.
• Helpful Tools: Dose calculators (e.g., for antibiotics and pain-relief), symptom diaries, goal-setting tools, and care planning booklets.
• Multimedia Content: Instructional videos and free wallet cards in multiple languages.

NZ Health App Library

The NZ Health App Library within the Healthify website provides independent reviews of consumer facing health apps, to make it quick and easy for healthcare providers and patients to find trusted apps. The app library features 322+ reviewed health and wellbeing apps over 114+ categories. Popular app categories include mental health and wellbeing, women’s health, pain, headache and concussion apps and self-management apps. Also check out our quick list of  mental health and wellbeing apps for rangatahi.

Benefits

For healthcare professionals, Healthify saves time during consultations and reinforces key messages. For patients, it enhances health literacy and empowers them to take charge of their health. Explore Healthify He Puna Waiora today to enhance your practice and support your patients on their health journeys!

Reviewers wanted 

We’re dedicated to offering valuable, independently reviewed resources to support your practice. We’re always looking for reviewers—enhance your professional development while helping us deliver top-quality content. If you’re interested, please reach out to us at hello@healthify.nz

Stay Connected

Stay up-to-date with the latest health information, tools, and resources by signing up for our newsletters. Our newsletters offer valuable insights, tips, and updates tailored to both healthcare professionals and patients.

Additionally, follow Healthify on social media and you are welcome to share our posts to your channels making it quick and easy to provide reliable content with your communities. Engage with us on platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn to receive real-time updates, participate in discussions, and share your experiences. Together, we can enhance health literacy and promote wellbeing across New Zealand.

New video now available

Check out our new Healthify video on YouTube for more information and resources. Add to your practice website and social media channels. 

Watch Video Here

ACC - Nymbl Pharmacy Campaign

From Monday 14 October, pharmacists across the country will be encouraging older adults to take control of their balance. Designed in partnership between ACC and ReCare, the Nymbl Pharmacy Campaign is a three-month digital initiative that aims to help older adults reduce their risk of falls by encouraging the use of the Nymbl balance training app.

Falls can have a huge impact on a person’s quality of life, especially if it results in a fracture. The great news is that people can help prevent them from happening in the first place by improving their strength and balance.

With the support of 980 pharmacies across New Zealand, the pilot trial will use pharmacy text nudges to target adults aged 65+ who are at a higher risk of falling.

Research shows that older adults have high levels of trust in their GPs and rely on health professionals to help them get better when ill or injured. By leveraging the credibility and influence of pharmacists via ReCare, ACC aim to see an increase in both Nymbl enrolments and ongoing engagement of older adults using the app.

Help your patient take control of their balance and refer them to Nymbl.

The Nymbl app - your questions answered.

In November, Koral Fitzgerald (Strategic Project Manager and Change Leader, Collaborative Aotearoa) and Mary Morrissey co-presented a Master Class on provider business management at the Innovation & Excellence in Primary & Community Care conference in Tāmaki Makaurau. We covered the following domains across a 2.5-hour session:

• Using “LEAN” methodology and other techniques to help drive business efficiency (Koral)
• Developing your workforce (Mary)
• Working collaboratively and in partnership to serve the community (Koral)
• Service expansion and diversification (Mary)

We were so engaged in a discussion that we were unable to complete the material in the session!  It was a delight to complete that for attendees via a Teams recording.

Also at the conference, Jess Morgan-French (CEO, Collaborative Aotearoa) was part of an informative panel session on future-focused primary care, and Jess co-presented with Marama Buck (Strategic Project and Event Manager, Collaborative Aotearoa) on Innovative Models of Care in General Practice.

Mary and Koral noted how keen they are to keep the momentum of the partnership between Collaborative Aotearoa and PMAANZ, and we are certain that will strengthen over 2025. We look forward to seeing many of you at our conference in Pōneke | Wellington in April 2025!

As we move towards the sharp end of the year, there is still plenty to progress across the sector, and we recognise everyone in General Practices across Aotearoa has had a huge year. We want to once more thank you for the work you all do.

The team are going to be taking a break from 20th December 2024, returning on 6th January 2025. We hope you all have a well-deserved opportunity to connect with whānau, friends and loved ones over the Festive season. Keep safe on our roads and water.

Ngā Manaakitanga,

Jess, Koral, Marama & Ny | The Team at Collaborative Aotearoa

The PMAANZ Conference in Tamaki Makaurau in September was a huge success, and it was fantastic to see everyone networking and spending time with our exhibitors.  We are forever grateful for the ongoing support of our sponsors and exhibitors. Putting together a great conference came with an amazing team; thank you, Iain, Della-Maree, Jessica and Ruth, for all your hard mahi leading up to and during the conference.  

Thank you for taking the time to participate in the conference satisfaction survey; your feedback is important to us. 

It was a pleasure to have Miranda Grace and Jackie Bear, our Australian counterparts, join us. 

 Next year, we are joining AAPM (Australian Association of Practice Management) as a joint conference in Melbourne at the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre from Tuesday, 21st October to Friday, 24th October... so, save the date and keep an eye out for those deals on airfares.   

In October, Mary and I attended the AAPM24 Conference in Darwin. Again, it was a pleasure to catch up with our Australian friends Miranda, Jacqui and John Erwin, who, as always, were welcoming.  After a full 3 days, we came away with some great tools around ‘Focusing’, being we live in an attention society. The new copilot M365 is a total game-changer for report writing! I enjoyed the panel session on difficult conversations, where they explored how to approach these conversations from a human resource, legal, and practice manager viewpoint.

Although it was incredibly hot, we did manage to see some tourist stuff; my highlights would be feeding baby crocodiles, Barramundi fishing and swimming (on a non-croc-infested day) at Litchfield National Park

I cannot believe this year is coming to an end and the holiday season is just around the corner! 

Christmas truly is a special time to cherish moments with loved ones, whether you are cozy at home, exploring new places or indulging in your favourite activities. May you all get the break you deserve. 

Hari Kirihimete | Jen Kaponga

Kia ora

Well, what a busy few months it has been.

We had an amazing conference in Auckland, which I hope everyone enjoyed. Plus, there have been a few webinars PMAANZ have run, which have been great. I thought the debt recovery was quite interesting. I also listened to the webinar on AI. Isn’t this exciting? I plan to do a bit more training on this.

Remember that there are some templates and resources on our PMAANZ Website under the member’s tab.

I decided to complete a beginner’s course on Te Reo Māori. It is called REO111 from Open Polytech. This has been a fantastic course. I have really enjoyed it. If you want to learn about our history and language, I recommend trying this course. It is also free.

Work has been busy like most of you, trying to sort out nurses’ negotiations, Annual leave, And many more.

Remember that if you have any membership concerns, please get in touch with me at membership@pmaanz.org.nz

As this is our last newsletter for the year, I hope you all have a safe and amazing Christmas.

Meri Kirihimete

Karen Greer | PMAANZ Membership 

Branch Update - Wellington

Happy December, everyone.

The Wellington branch will have its final meeting of the year on Tuesday, 3rd December 2024, at the Tu Ora Compass Health rooms in the CBD, followed by drinks and dinner.

We will be sharing what and how we keep our HR files, and what is working for us regarding debt collection.

We will then have a conversation about the future of the branch as I have resigned as Branch Coordinator after this December meeting.

Wishing you all a restful and restorative summer.

Kind regards | Wendy Slight

Outgoing Branch Coordinator, Wellington branch.

NZ Doctor Read / Newsletters and Publications

We are always adding to the page of NZ Doctor articles, click the link.

We also have publications that might be of interest to you, click the link.

To read our Partner newsletters which might be of interest, click the link.

Books / Movies / Shows - recommended by our members

Canary Black - Netflix

Canary Black is an action-thriller spy film starring Kate Beckinsale as a CIA agent on the run. The film was shot in Croatia. Avery Graves is a CIA agent whose husband has been kidnapped by terrorists. The kidnappers blackmail Graves for information that would betray her country.

Bookworm

NZ movie with Elijah Wood. 11-year-old Mildred's world is turned upside down when her estranged father, the washed-up magician Strawn Wise, comes to look after her and agrees to take her camping to find a mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther. It was set in Canterbury, so the scenery was amazing.

Book Reviews

Body Language – A.K Turner

For Tess Gerritsen & Kathy Reichs fans, this is a gripping debut thriller that introduces Camden’s most exciting new forensic investigator. 

Cassie Raven believes the dead can talk, and we need to listen.....

Best of all, this is the first book in a series of 4, nearly finished number 3

Has anyone seen Charlotte Salter? Nicci French

This is a book you will struggle to put down, a missing persons thriller that's also a searing examination of family, memory and grief.

Christmas Recipe - Christmas Mallowpuffs

Ingredients

Packet of Mallowpuffs White Chocolate (I always use blocks of nice stuff rather than cooking chocolate but up to you!) Jaffas Mint Leaves Lollies or green jubes.

 Instructions

I usually freeze the Mallowpuffs ahead of time to ensure the white chocolate does not melt the biscuit but up to you.

Slice the green mint leaves until they are small and look like mini leaves.

Melt the white chocolate in the microwave or double boiler - if using the microwave melt for 30 seconds, then stir, then 10 second intervals stirring in between until just completely melted and smooth.

Set up your Mallowpuffs on a tray.

Using a teaspoon drizzle a small amount of white chocolate over the top of a Mallowpuffs using your spoon to gently encourage the chocolate to drizzle down a few sides.

While the chocolate still melted add the Jaffa to the top and one or two sliced green lollies.

Pop aside to set and repeat!

I set mine in the fridge until I need them - if you temper your chocolate, you will of course get a better room temp result, but I never do :-)

Jennifer Kaponga

Become a Member!

If you would like to become a member of PMAANZ, you can complete our online application form. Sign up here! 

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