Governance review
In line with our current strategy the Executive Committee has initiated a full review of the College’s governance structure. An external consulting company has been engaged to complete the initial review. The intention is to ensure that our governance and operational structures are fit for the College’s role and purpose, effective, efficient, and comply with all relevant legislative and regulatory requirements. Recommendations from the Executive Committee will be shared with members later in the year or early 2025. Members will be asked to agree to the direction of the proposed changes at the 2025 AGM. Following this, the development of any new structures will occur, and a SGM will be held in late 2025 for the approval of new society rules.
Health Sector Engagement
In April, Adrian Metcalfe the General Manager, Matt Wright from the Executive Committee and I met the Minister of Health, Shane Reti. A briefing was provided which defined urgent care, the clinic locations, standards required and issues being faced. We discussed outcomes from the recent data collected from Urgent Care Clinics, including the high utilisation across the country, the provision of care to people in need, and highlighted the increasing and complex medical component of work which has affected workflow and impacted productivity and sustainability.
We provided him with evidence that UCCs take demand off emergency departments, that they allow care closer to home, and that they support equity in primary care delivery.
Three areas where we think urgent care can be better supported were outlined- to have the medical component of urgent care consistently funded, that the relationships between UCCs and ED need to be strengthened, defined and nationally consistent, and that urgent care training (including workplace based training) be funded appropriately.
The Minister was receptive, and it was clear that a number of his priorities are positively impacted by good urgent care provision. He is interested in further information to inform decisions, and we will support him and his team in this way.
Urgent Care Clinic Utilisation Data
Outcomes from the urgent care clinic utilisation data collection (2018-2022) will soon be shared with clinics. This data has and will be invaluable to help inform aspects of College strategy and our engagement with agencies such as Health NZ and the MOH. Thank you to all the clinics who positively engaged with this project. Clinics will be provided with a unique identifier that allows then to compare their utilisation with other anonymised clinics. A request for 2023 data will also soon be made to obtain the most up to date picture of utilisation trends.
Curriculum and Training Programme Development
Over the past 18 months the College has been extensively reviewing the training programme structure and curriculum. This has included the development and piloting of proposed new workplace-based assessments. The MCNZ accreditation report from 2021 requires us to place increased emphasis on workplace-based assessment methods to aid judgements about progression through the training programme.
We will soon begin consultation with members and clinics on the proposed changes, including the implementation of WBAs, changes to the overall training programme structure, and the revised curriculum document. I encourage you to be involved with this process and provide feedback on these significant proposed changes.