Happy New Year to everyone – we hope you had a relaxing holiday and are ready to start 2024 refreshed. To start the year, here is the first Pānui for 2024.
In today’s Issue:
Primary Care Nurses Pay Equity Claim
Project 9 – inbox management
National Bowel Screening Programme Indicator on Mōhio Express
Aotearoa Immunisation Register- Your Feedback
Primary Care Nurses Pay Equity Claim
Te Whatu Ora’s response to the Section 14 notices in relation to the pay equity claim is not likely to be available until at least the end of next week. Any further information will be circulated when available. The following key messages have been developed by GPNZ for your information.
Pay parity between primary and community nurses and Te Whatu Ora employed nurses is vital for practices to recruit and retain their workforce, and to continue to provide essential services for their patient population.
A pay equity claim has been lodged under the Equal Pay Act 1972 by the NZNO on behalf of its members working in general practice and Urgent Care. Once a claim has been raised it covers all workers who do the same or similar work, regardless of their union.
The earlier pay equity settlement for Te Whatu Ora nurses and healthcare workers resulted in significant pay increases. However, that settlement created a stark pay gap between Te Whatu Ora employed staff and those working in primary, community and telehealth services. A separate equity claim is a logical next step.
The Public Services Commission is the responsible entity for supporting the pay equity process and for providing technical guidance (https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/system/public-service-people/pay-gaps-and-pay-equity/pay-equity/). Employer groups who are party to the (separate) primary care MECA (Primary Care Bargaining Collective, GenPro, Green Cross) are expected to offer representation to employers, with details to be developed. As the funder, Te Whatu Ora, together with Manatū Hauora will have a lead role in advising Government. We will keep practices informed of progress on the claim and any relevant Government decisions.
It is essential that a successful claim is fully costed, and fully and separately funded by Government, as was the case with the Te Whatu Ora claim.
Project 9 – Inbox Management
You may be aware (as published in Friday Facts in October and November 2023) that Te Whatu Ora have been working with hospital and primary care colleagues to identify supportive solutions regarding inbox management in general practice. Many of you would have responded to the Survey where almost 30% of GPs from the Northern Region partook on the topic of inbox management.
Survey outcomes
There is a large cohort of doctors (34%) who are not aware of the medicolegal responsibilities of being cc’d results
Most doctors do not wish to receive cc’d results into their inbox, particularly when results can be sought through Testsafe or other regional repositories
4 out of 5 doctors would support receiving a verbal transfer of care when necessary to accept responsibility for following up cc’d results
Regardless of age or experience
5-7 out of 10 GPs have reduced their patient facing hours in the past 5-years
Almost 1 in 5 GPs (under the age of 35 or less than 3 years of Primary Care experience) are intending to retire or leave primary care within the next 3 years
The median ratio between patient-facing clinical hours and non-patient-facing clinical hours
GPs 0.44 à i.e. 3.5 hours of non-patient-facing clinical hours for every full 8 hours of patient-facing clinical work
Urgent Care doctors 0.2
Nurse Practitioners 0.43
Please note that full statistical and subgroup analysis are in progress and will be written up in a paper for publication in early 2024.
National Bowel Screening Programme Indicator on Mōhio Express
We have been informed that a Mōhio Express Bowel Screening indicator has been available to Practices using Mōhio for some time, and unfortunately, Auckland PHO did not receive the communiqué about this. The Indicator will inform clinicians of a patient’s bowel screening status and results. We expect the indicator will be added to the Mōhio Express tool within the next few weeks, after which we will supply further information regarding indicator colours and definitions.
AIR
Please send feedback to shanaz@aucklandpho.co.nz regarding any issues or barriers when using the AIR.
Barbara Stevens |Tumu Whakarae/CEO