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The Primary Health Network Group was established in 1999 in recognition
of the need to be prepared for the inevitable future changes in nursing
at the primary health care level. To this end a small group of nurses
from the College, each with a mix of primary health care backgrounds and
experience, met on a regular basis to create a development strategy From
the outset we were fortunate to have the expertise of Dr Denise Dignam
and Julie Martin and the full support of the College director Prof Jenny
Carryer. Barbara Docherty, Rose Lightfoot and Lyn Messervy took a leadership
role in the development of the strategy. This small but industrious core
group met and consulted regularly, attempting to be several steps ahead
of the Primary Health Care Strategy document recently released by the
Government. Jean Ross provided the rural perspective.
At that stage we had as our vision and objectives.
A national nurse driven and led nursing service which is acceptable to
nursing and communities and supported by Government contractual arrangements,
The development of a nationally acceptable education framework for primary
health care nursing. A national infrastructure that offers a career pathway
for primary health nurses, linked to a competency based education and
training framework,
A funding mechanism which ensures consistency at a national level for
all primary health care nurses by replacing existing funding streams and
linking this mechanism to future funding requirements.
What have we achieved to date?
The first stage of development was to scope the purpose and capacity of
a primary health care nurse (PHC) and in particular the pathway of progression
for such a nurse. It was envisaged that this would include
all PHC nurses, from their many differing scopes and employment contracts,
sharing a common set of generalist skills and knowledge as well as developing
advanced skills in particular areas of professional practice.
The College discussion paper Releasing the Potential of Primary Health
Nursing was our first document outlining the vision and possible future
direction for primary health care nursing. The document was eventually
published (July 2001) on this website as:
Document Link!!!!!
College members were closely involved in the development of theGovernment's
primary health strategy and have been key , members of the Nursing expert
advisory group to the Ministry of Health which published the guiding document
"Investing in health: A framework for primary health care nursing."
Alongside this work and critical to primary health nursing work force
and practice development has been the associated work to develop the Nurse
Practitioner role in NZ (see the related section on this website)
Joining the Network
Nurses generally express interest in belonging to groups of nurses with
similar or related practice concerns. In the College we see practice interests
as very broad and generally not able to be confined to one or other area
of interest. We have therefore avoided the notion of members belonging
exclusively to sections but have
created broader networks which are open to all members but allow a specific
focus on relevant areas.
To register interest as a member of this network please send your contact
details to the College office. This means that the network co-ordinator
(Deb Parry) knows who you are and can contact you as needed when submissions,
working parties and representational issues arise and where member input
is needed.
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