Event Information

Focus: The Primary and Community Care Waka - how can Physiotherapy hoehoe together within teams?

Tracks

Plenary Room

Friday, September 6, 2024

3:45 PM - 4:15 PM

Plenary Room Auditorium

Details

Relevance This focussed symposium, centered on opportunities for physiotherapists in emerging primary and community care roles, holds significance for the PNZ audience, particularly in the context of the equity theme. The session will feature insights from practicing physiotherapists engaged in clinical settings, where they address the unique needs of high-risk communities—an approach distinct from conventional ACC funded practice models. This encompasses involvement in a GP practice serving a predominantly Māori, Pacific, and former refugee population, collaboration with a Pacific Health Provider, and engagement with a rural health organisation, all catering to communities vulnerable to suboptimal health outcomes. Furthermore, discussions on tailoring commissioned services for equitable health outcomes will encourage attendees to contemplate their role in proposing services that promote access for all communities they seek to serve, that may otherwise face barriers to engaging with primary and community care.

Speaker

Mr Chris Higgs

School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago

The Primary and Community Care Waka - how can Physiotherapy hoehoe together within teams?

Presentation Abstract

In an increasingly pressured Primary and Community Care landscape, strategic focus is shifting toward interprofessional care models that can provide patient centred care, strengthen collaborative working relationships within local communities and work toward Pae Ora (healthy futures) [1]. The scope of practice of physiotherapist’s mean they have potential to provide broad and timely quality care [2, 3], and examples can already be seen of physiotherapists providing care in novel primary and community care spaces supporting high needs populations [4, 5] (http://tinyurl.com/45m4c8tm). There are further growth opportunities, the Comprehensive Primary Community and Rural Role Descriptions for Physiotherapists (http://tinyurl.com/2cu6mfud) being a recent example, so how prepared are we as a profession to respond? The new government continues to indicate support to reform the health system and funding models in primary care continue to be in the spotlight [6] alongside equitable health outcomes [7]. To address this potential, this symposium focuses on two critical challenges: One, how can physiotherapists best engage with health funders and the public to clearly explain what services we could and should be offering to help tackle our current inequitable health service delivery and create robust proposals and business cases to support the argument? Two, physiotherapists working in these spaces require support to sustain and maintain their roles, skills and experience. How is this best achieved to grow the skills and capacity of these important primary care physiotherapy roles to provide best practice care for the communities that need it the most?

Biography

Chris Higgs (Chair) 1: Qualifications - MPhty, PGCertHealSc, PGCertTertT (clinical), BSc (Phty). Research interests - Primary Care, Allied Health, Transdisciplinary Teams, Lifestyle interventions for people with multimorbidity. Research grants - (2023) HRC, Activation Grant. Transdisciplinary Teams in Primary Care: The Health Hub Project NZ Test Case. (2022) HRC, Career Development Award. Realising the potential of the Primary Care Allied Health Workforce.

Presenter 1: Rachael Gallagher Rachael’s Physiotherapy background is Private Practice, with experience working within an innovative Medical Practice team with a high Māori, Pacific and former refugee population and within a Comprehensive Primary Care Team. She also works part time as a Clinical Educator with final year physiotherapy students. She has a particular interest and holds Post Graduate qualifications in Pain Management.

2: Charleen Silcock Charleen has a Private Practice background and has completed a Masters in Physiotherapy. She is Associate Dean Pacific at the Physiotherapy School, University of Otago, alongside being a clinical educator and research fellow. She is passionate about building Pacific health workforce capacity and runs community physiotherapy services in Dunedin with a local Pacific Health Provider.

3. Sarah Walker Rural physiotherapist, rural service leader, and rural allied health researcher, Sarah is one of New Zealand’s leading experts in the rural allied health workforce. Her research highlights the opportunities for rural allied health professionals to lead the development of community oriented and patient centred equitable services, working alongside rural health organisations, government departments, and rural communities to achieve Pae Ora.

4. Kirsty Walker Kirsty is a physiotherapist with 20+ years' experience in primary, community and DHB. Currently working in the commissioning arm of LakesDHB with a focus on design and implementation of community based programmes. She is passionate about facilitating understanding of the commissioning mechanics to enable opportunities for physiotherapists in the primary and community space.

Co-Presenter

Rachael Gallagher

Senior Physiotherapist

Health Hub Project NZ