Back L-R: Dr Hillary Gray, Dr John Coughlan, Peter Townsend, Nicky Scott, Prof Andrew Hornblow
Front L-R: Jane Huria, Dr Gayle O’Duffy, Prof Les Toop, Dr Mary-Anne Bellamy
Absent: Dr Harsed Chima
Chair's report
PROF LES TOOP, CHAIR
PEGASUS HEALTH (CHARITABLE) LTD
The last year has passed very quickly. Even though I have been on the Board for several years, until I became Chair, I had no idea just how many initiatives Pegasus was involved in! My thanks to Martin Seers, who stood down this time last year, for his many years of innovative leadership. It has been a pleasure to welcome Gayle O’Duffy as a new director. Her governance experience and knowledge of rural issues have been invaluable.
In the last 12 months, Pegasus has made significant progress on a number of tricky issues that have been perplexing the Board. A new fit-for-purpose home for Pegasus Central and our 24 Hour Surgery has been a top priority for several years and we soon hope to have this development underway.
Our membership is ageing and the challenges this brings have been brought sharply into focus. We have done our very best to come up with solutions that ensure the integrity of the system, support older members and importantly encourage our younger colleagues to share in the joys and accompanying responsibilities of providing the high quality, comprehensive and continuous General Practice care that characterises the Christchurch and Canterbury system.
Pegasus members, both medical and nursing, should be proud of the huge contribution they and their organisation make to so many aspects of our integrated health system, which is winning national prizes left and right.
There is much still to do. In order to continue our path of innovation and manage the ever present tension between our hard-earned professional independence and our clear successes in system integration, we must continue to make ourselves indispensable to the system and, as best we can, politically agnostic. The best example of this in the last year has been our partnership with our northern colleagues at ProCare and the subsequent successful bid of our joint venture Homecare Medical Ltd to win the new comprehensive Telehealth service contract. This may seem an unusual activity for general practice on the face of it. However, this large and long-term opportunity will allow us to improve many things including after hours triage and support nationally. It will in time, return resources we can use to pursue other core activities and importantly provide a sophisticated platform to innovate in the ways we deliver care, both within and after hours.
Much work continues in supporting the reconfiguration of practices and models of working. More than half of our practices have used the services of Jan Edwards and Mark Henare, who run the supportive Integrated Family Health Service programme. Exciting results have been achieved in some practices, with much change planned for the future.
Pegasus has also formed closer ties with other large networks around the country. These partnerships are already delivering rewards through sharing expertise and innovation. Our world-class education programme is expanding and aspects of our IT work are being adopted elsewhere - a tribute to both teams.
It has been a pleasure to chair the Board this first year and I look forward to updating you next year on the further development of our projects and programmes. We are lucky to be part of such a robust and high values organisation, one that continues to lead the sector locally, nationally and internationally. I thank all those involved - members, staff, fellow directors and community partners - who add vibrancy to the unique Pegasus DNA.