Practice Plus

Practice Plus is recruiting! We're searching for a passionate healthcare professional to join our team as the After-Hours Clinical Shift Lead, 80 hours per fortnight rostered afterhours and weekends. The role will ideally be based in Wellington and it will support our wider team with rostering and support as Practice Plus supports our communities and enrolled practices with afterhours primary health care support. The right candidate should have a Bachelor of Nursing, Health Science (Paramedic) or similar with at least 5 years of clinical experience and a current Annual Practicing Certificate. The candidate will also have great communication skills to help support staff, resolve complex cases and respond to challenges that may appear during operating hours. Ideally, the role will be based in Wellington, however, this can be negotiable for the right candidate. Sound a bit like you? Check out the job ad here https://loom.ly/2zXt1OQ. Applications close at 9am on 20th January in the New Year!

We were pleased to present at HiNZ last week about Practice Plus, the service we offer and how we have expanded over the past 12 months to provide increased support to practices across the motu. Thank you to those who came and saw us present, and connected with us whilst we were there! As we approach Christmas, remember that Practice Plus is available for appointments until 10pm weekdays and 8am to 8pm weekends and public holidays, including Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, and the day after New Year's. If you or your whānau are unwell and can't see your usual GP, you can book an appointment with us! Photographed presenting is Operations Lead Tristan Santer, with Clinical Director Dr Emma Calvert. www.practiceplus.nz

We were thrilled to speak with Dr Ayesha Verrall on Monday alongside Tū Ora Compass Health New Zealand and Ka Ora Telecare. We talked about our model of care and business model, our partnership with practices and our innovative ways we have been able to support communities around the motu with initiatives such as locally tailored programs, supporting the Wairarapa unenrolled population, inbox and locum support and more. As we approach three years of operations in the new year, it was good to reflect back on three years of service and operation and see just how far we have come. Thank you!

We're incredibly proud that Dr Emma Calvert, Clinical Director of Ka Ora has been announced as a finalist for the HiNZ Clinical Informatics Award for 2024. The winner is up to a public vote, so we'd love for you to head through to the website, check out her nomination and submit a vote! https://ow.ly/TaGC50TURNq The judges comment stated that 'Emma’s work has had a positive impact across the country supporting clinicians and stretched services, but more significantly reaching vulnerable patient groups who may not otherwise have sought, or been able to access, medical care. Her strong relationship building, and operational and strategic input has established a sustainable model that will continue to deliver and improve patient outcomes'. Congratulations Dr Calvert, we're very proud of the work you are doing! Practice Plus Emergency Consult Tū Ora Compass Health New Zealand

A big first day for our presenters at the GP24 conference in Wellington. First up, our Chief Executive Justine Thorpe, with Pegasus Health Clincial Quality and Education Service Manager Louise Kennedy talked to Clincial Quality and peer groups, working with an already established model to not reinvent the wheel and the positive impact and benefits of the peer groups. The final presentation for that saw Practice Plus General Manager Jess White and Clincial Director Dr Emma Calvert spoke about the Telehealth service, the key wins, some learnings from the years along with a few case examples of how Telehealth has been able to support practices and patients. Looking forward to hearing more tomorrow!

Supporting the Unenrolled Population - Case Study – Wairarapa Practice Plus has been agile as a solution for several districts with unique challenges when it comes to accessing primary health. In Wairarapa, workforce shortage saw many practices close their books to new patients, resulting in a high number of unenrolled patients. The Wairarapa region has a growing number of unenrolled members of the community, currently estimated at 2,500-3,000 people. To improve access to healthcare at a time when Primary Care is at full capacity, Practice Plus has proposed an interim general practice telehealth consultation option, in partnership with Tū Ora Compass Health Wairarapa team, Te Whatu Ora – Wairarapa and Masterton Medical. While patients are waiting for enrolment, they can have a consult with a Practice Plus dedicated clinician, with a specific workflow and funded rates for this service by Te Whatu Ora for a 30-minute appointment due to their delayed care requirements. Some of these are completed by a telehealth assisted appointment alongside a Health Care Assistant or Kaiāwhina. These patients can either complete their telehealth consultation at home, or assisted at Masterton Medical – the consultations can be either be over Video, or Phone, dependent on patient preference. Practice Plus will not enrol these patients but will provide interim care to ease the pressure until practices are able to reopen their books. In a 12 month period over 1,500 un-enrolled patients were seen in the service (some of these being international patients), with 30% of these patients re-presenting to Practice Plus more than once. Read more about this and more in our reflections document at https://ow.ly/Itzt50RkN7s

Practice Plus Partners with Manage My Health to Simplify Appointment Bookings Through App Integration 👩⚕️📱 Practice Plus, in partnership with Manage My Health, has launched a Practice Plus integrated booking portal that allows patients to book appointments directly through the Manage My Health portal. This integration addresses a critical issue facing the New Zealand Health industry by allowing patients faster access to health services when in need and alleviating pressure on practices. This collaboration enables patients to book appointments with Practice Plus via the Manage My Health portal, particularly during afterhours or when their regular GPs are unavailable. This integration significantly reduces the administrative effort and time required to schedule a telehealth appointment. Practices that are part of the Practice Plus network have the option to activate this feature for their patients. In the first roll out, practices under 17 PHOs across New Zealand, who are using Manage My Health have the potential to access Practice Plus services, provided the practice enables the feature. Jess White, General Manager at Practice Plus, said the integration is a huge step forward in increasing access to telehealth appointments for our communities who need them. "Practice Plus continues to support more and more practices across the motu, ensuring their patients have access to telehealth appointments in the evening, weekends and when they can't get an appointment with their regular GP. We must capture patient details when they sign up; however, with the portal automatically populating this information, it reduces much of the admin process and will support more people to use the service for them or their whānau," she said. Practices retain control over the activation of the Practice Plus, ensuring they can promote the service in a way that complements their existing operations and supports the sustainability of the general practice business model. Vino Ramayah, CEO of Manage My Health, commented on the integration: "The addition of the Practice Plus booking portal enhances the tools available to our users, fostering better health management from a single platform. It also expands access to support outside of regular hours." Mr. Ramayah looks forward to further collaboration with Practice Plus as the service expands. Practice Plus is accessible from 8:30 AM to 10:00 PM on weekdays and from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM on weekends and public holidays. Patients whose practices are enrolled with Practice Plus and have enabled the portal can now book directly through the app. Appointments can also be made via the Practice Plus website at www.practiceplus.nz. Read more on our website at https://lnkd.in/gESsNSiD

Kiosks and Dedicated Pods 🖥️ To reduce demand at urgent care centres, Practice Plus has begun installing Practice Plus kiosks with tablet computers in selected urgent care centres that experience high numbers of patients where the medical care can be dealt with via a telehealth consultation. Patients are triaged by the team onsite, those who may experience a relatively long wait or assessed as being potentially resolved by telehealth are guided to the kiosk and assisted to book an appointment online. The patient is then able to return home and complete their appointment in the comfort of their home. This service is available during regular business hours, as well as after hours. Read more about this and more in our reflections document at https://lnkd.in/gGkSad-2

We know we’re a bit late to the party, however today our clinicians shared some of the photos of the Aurora Australis from their hometowns! Our clinicians are based all around Aotearoa. These photos came from the West Coast, Southland, Coromandel, Banks Peninsula and Nelson 😍😍😍

#OurClinicians The lovely Dr Katie Sleeman is based in Christchurch and does Practice Plus hours around her current in-person clinic hours and some urgent care hours on the weekends. She's been with the Practice Plus team fo reight months, supporting with evenings and weekend shifts around her other work commitments and home life.. 'I have two young girls at home, and although I found that being a GP was great, I needed more work-life balance. That's how I came across Practice Plus. It gives me the flexibility to work from home whilst still seeing patients and making a difference. I save about an hour and a half on just getting ready and driving to work, time that I can spend with my family and our new puppy Huey. This year I am branching out a little and starting some cosmetic medicine training which is exciting. I graduated in 2014 from the University of Otago, but before this I qualified as a beauty therapist, working on cruise ships in the Bahamas and spending my twenties looking after clients' skin. I loved skin so much, it inspired me to do medicine. Here I am nearly 20 years down the track enjoying life as a GP, telehealth, and dabbling in cosmetic medicine. I think as a GP, phone and video consults have their place now, offering a great service for those in need and to be honest, there's not much we can't do over a video consult these days and it's almost like we are face to face. I also do some locuming for a rural practice up North. Some of these patients can't get in to see their GP for 4 weeks and they are extremely grateful for this service'. Thanks you Dr Sleeman. You can read more about Katie's story in the Practice Plus 2 Year Reflections Document on 2 years of operations online at INSERT LINK