In the first two columns of this series, I focused on the pressures facing rural general practice and the importance of workforce in sustaining a strong health system. This final piece steps back to look at what Pinnacle is, and the essential role we play as a Primary Health Organisation (PHO).
Couple visiting their doctor.
Like many PHOs, Pinnacle is a quiet achiever. Most people have little reason to know we exist. That’s ok – we’re not here to grab headlines, we’re here to hold things together.
Managing the contract between Health New Zealand and our network of general practices is probably one of the more visible things we do. While ‘transactional’ the role we play in primary care funding matters, especially when we negotiate it each year. But it is just one of a hundred plus things we do. More fundamentally our work is about supporting people – and our network of general practices – to thrive.
Justin Butcher
While general practices are focused on delivering care to individuals, we’re focused on population health. We monitor the health of our enrolled population (nearly half a million people across the Midlands) and use our unique skills in clinical leadership, data and analytics to respond to trends, gaps, and changing needs. This has real impact. For example, during Covid-19 immunisation efforts we used geographically mapped immunisation data to guide outreach to areas of greatest need, working especially through partnerships with Māori providers and community outreach.
Day to day, we support general practices with their strategic plans, adapt models of care, recruit staff, develop their workforce, implement new services, adopt new technologies and respond to key changes in the system such as key changes in information technology systems, screening programmes or prescribing regulations. We design new services that bring care closer to home like marae clinics, point of care diagnostics and expanded primary care roles. As I’ve written before, this work matters most in rural areas where challenges are greater and resources thinner.
Pinnacle plays a key role in integrating primary and secondary care. We work hard to ensure care is delivered in the right place, by the right people, and reducing unnecessary hospital visits. Our expertise blends clinical insight, community connection and digital innovation – which may sound like a collection of buzzwords but are capabilities that don’t sit naturally elsewhere in the system.
Health reforms introduced in 2022 delivered uncertainty about the future of PHOs. Our place in the system is no longer well defined and we’re awaiting policy decisions. We’ve been advocating for clear direction, because we know our role is essential. In my opinion it isn’t about if PHOs have a future, it is about realising how much harder that future would be without them.
Three central North Island primary health organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Waikato University to tackle New Zealand’s health workforce shortages at The Pā in Hamilton. From left: Prof Neil Quigley, Taima Campbell (Hauraki), Rachel Brown (National Hauora Coalition), Justin Butcher (Pinnacle Group). Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
