Unleashing the potential of primary care: lessons from New Zealand’s experience of organised general practice

23 June 2011 08:00 - 10:00

Nuffield Trust, 59 New Cavendish Street, London, W1G 7LP

At this seminar, two highly experienced senior health leaders from New Zealand shared their insights from New Zealand’s experience of collective general practice and primary care.

Faced with government reform to the health service in the early 1990s, the majority of New Zealand’s small, autonomous GP practices came together to form independent practice associations. During the same period, other practices and primary care providers came together to form community-governed primary care organisations.

Over time, these have evolved into a diverse range of organisations with varying local priorities, approaches, and forms of ownership. They have proved adept at responding to successive waves of health service reform while improving the extent, quality and efficiency of primary care.

Cathy O’Malley, Chief Executive Officer at Compass Health and John Macaskill-Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Midlands Health Network reflected on a range of topics, including:

Engaging with independent GPs and clinicians;
Stimulating and sustaining improvements in quality;
Successfully engaging with communities;
Adapting to radical shifts in government policy.

To watch video interviews with both keynote speakers, and to access other highlights from the seminar, use the arrow buttons on each block in the right-hand column to scroll through the interviews and slideshow content.

This was the third in a series of seminars aiming to support the strategic development of new clinical commissioning groups, providing an opportunity for participants to explore some of the challenges facing clinical commissioners and examine options for addressing these in ways that shape the underlying values of commissioning groups and help assure their success.