Professor Jenny Carryer
Editorial
practitioner workforce then they must lend their lobbying support to our endless endeavours to have barriers overturned.
On June 15th the Ministry of Health hosted a workshop for 127 people to discuss the next stage in the move towards clinical integration of service delivery. The workshop followed the release of the new service agreement between DHBs and PHOs and heralded the planned move towards alliance contracting for DHBs and PHOs.
In order to try and explain alliance contracting I am going to quote directly from one of the many papers that landed in my email box ahead of this workshop. The paper is not labeled in terms of authorship so I am unable to acknowledge the source.
Professor Jenny Carryer
RN, PhD, FCNA( NZ), MNZM Executive Director
On June 5 th The General Practice leaders forum hosted a day for GP, Nursing and allied health leaders to meet together to discuss a shared way forward to address what was described as the“ burning platform”, The burning platform is of course the widening gap between health needs demand and available health workforce.
The workshop was collegial and constructive with GP leaders present clearly acknowledging a need for major changes in the current model of General Practice service delivery. Nurses present delivered a strong message to GP leaders that if they are serious about wanting a fully utilised primary health care nurse and nurse
Alliance contracting: This approach is a further move away from the concept of an“ arms-length” funding arrangement that holds providers independently accountable. It recognizes that, irrespective of contracts, District Health Boards remain accountable for the quality and appropriateness of services delivered to their populations and should be actively engaged at all levels in quality, patient safety, performance improvement and value for money. It acts as a foundation for a“ whole of system” approach.
It is important to be clear that alliance agreements are different from“ partnerships” which usually involves traditional type contracts that have an overlay of specific relationship principles.
The role of an Alliance is to:
• provide leadership within a health community
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