By Liane Topham-Kindley, NZ Doctor Journal, 16.03.15
Raglan’s West Coast Health Clinic has won boasting rights as the best rural general practice team in the country.
The competition won by practice is the first to be held by the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHAANZ).
One of its patients, Sharon Tribe, nominated the practice which, she says, is an “outstanding example” of a rural general practice.
Community focus a winning factor
The fact the practice is actively involved in the community, forming collaborative relationships with a wide cross-section of community organisations and health providers was seen as significant by Mrs Tribe.
As an example, one of the practice’s GPs and co-owners, Fiona Bolden, is a founding member of the Raglan Suicide Prevention and Awareness Group.
Practice manager Michelle Meenagh says staff do a lot of voluntary work in the community.
“We are absolutely chuffed to get the award, but the team here works so tirelessly in the community.”
One of the receptionists, Debbie Phillips-Morgan, is a volunteer surf lifesaver while another receptionist, Carol Millar, is a volunteer ambulance driver.
Four of the practice’s five nurses participate in the PRIME schedule.
‘We are very honoured’
Dr Bolden and some of the other practice staff accepted the award at the rural health conference in Rotorua last Friday.
“For our general practice it’s all about teamwork and it’s all about the community – to be nominated by the community is gobstopping and we are very honoured to receive the award,” Dr Bolden said at the awards ceremony.
“On behalf of the team I would like to thank and acknowledge the importance of the general practice team and the community we serve.”
Affordable health care important to patients
On her nomination form, Mrs Tribe gave a number of examples of the practice’s deserving qualities.
These ranged from the fact all staff form “positive, compassionate relationships” with patients, to the fact West Coast Health is a teaching practice and a great advocate for getting medical practitioners into rural communities.
Affordable fees were also noted by Mrs Tribe.
“The clinic endeavours to keep costs for treatment to a minimum and are a Very Low Cost Access centre, as such they depend on government funding and are not a profit-driven business.
“Affordable healthcare for rural communities is critical to community wellbeing.”
One of Raglan’s two practices
West Coast Health is owned by Dr Bolden and her GP colleagues Mike Loten and Rebekah Doran, while another GP, Jennifer Hughes, also works at the practice full time.
The clinic has about 4600 enrolled patients and provides the usual general practice services but Mrs Meenagh says it also carries out a lot of minor surgery, mental health and sexual health consultations.
As well as Mrs Meenagh, there are five nurses employed by the practice and three receptionists who all work a mix of full and part-time.
The practice is one of two in Raglan; another smaller practice in the town is run by a Maori health provider.
Commendations for Wairoa and Milton Medical Centres
Hawke’s Bay’s Wairoa Medical Centre and Milton Medical Centre, south of Dunedin, were also highly commended by the judges.
RHAANZ chief executive Michelle Thompson says the competition was organised with the aim of getting rural communities to acknowledge the important service rural general practices provide.
Because it was the first time the competition was held, with a relatively short lead-in time of only four weeks, Ms Thompson says she was happy with the numbers entering the competition, though she was not prepared to say how many entries there were.
Judges for the inaugural competition were NZ Institute of Rural Health chief executive Robin Steed, Rural Canterbury PHO chief executive Bill Eschenbach and Federated Farmers representative Jeanette Maxwell.
They judged “blind” with any references to the practices or their nominees hidden from the judges to ensure an entirely independent result.