Inaugural Administration and Practice Management Excellence (APEX) Forum attracts strong turnout
About 100 practice managers and administration staff attended Pegasus Health’s first Administration and Practice Management Excellence (APEX) Forum.
The forum gave people a chance to learn about the important role primary care teams play in the bigger picture of the Canterbury health care system, through workshops, presentations and networking opportunities.
APEX is a professional development programme for non-clinical general practice staff. It aims to develop a practice management and administration workforce equipped with the knowledge, skills and abilities to support high performing General Practice teams.
Launched in February 2016, the programme was set up following a summer student’s research into the ongoing educational needs of practice managers and administration staff.
Forum attendees travelled from as far as Kaikoura, Ashburton, Oxford, Akaroa and Rakaia to participate in the July 2016 forum.
Workshop topics included ways to manage debt; enrolment and eligibility; improving the patient experience; and managing challenging staff issues.
Doctors on Riccarton Practice Manager Marina Chin says it was great that Pegasus Health hosted the APEX Forum as the organisation understood the issues that practice managers and administration staff were facing.
Three senior administration staff from Doctors on Riccarton attended the forum with Marina and found it “inspiring”, she says.
“I believe the role of non-clinical staff is just as important as clinicians in the team delivery of patient care. The knowledge and skills required to perform the job well are growing as issues like funding, IT provisions and practice accreditation increase the complexity of the job. The availability of targeted training and education is key. My staff and I thought we were fairly knowledgeable but we all learned things that we thought we knew, especially at the workshops. The keynote speakers were enlightening.”
Ilam Medical Centre Practice Manager Sonja Gwynne says the forum gave her staff a chance to receive specific training and they found the enrolment workshop particularly useful. “The forum was also great because it made us more aware of what was going on within the Canterbury health system,” Sonja says.
Carolyn Gullery (Canterbury DHB General Manager Planning and Funding and Decision Support), Vince Barry (Pegasus Health CEO) and Linda Hutchings (Leadership Trainer and Leadership Development Expert) were the keynote speakers.
Leigh Aston, Pegasus Health’s Coordination Team Leader, says the forum was a chance to cover many of the topics that people regularly asked about.
As part of the APEX programme, a website was launched through Pegasus World in February 2016, bringing together the professional development opportunities available in Canterbury.
“These are things that are offered through Pegasus Health, Canterbury DHB or the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce, for example,” Leigh says. “Most are either free or low cost. A lot of practice managers and administration staff didn’t know that these were out there or that they could attend them.”