The staff of Alliance Health Plus (AH+) PHO have made a large donation of items to ease the burden for South Auckland families this Christmas.

For the past three weeks, donations have been flowing in from AH+ staff, with all proceeds going to Family Start Manukau. The trust provides a home visiting programme that focuses on improving children's growth and health, learning and relationships, family circumstances, environment and safety. It helps families/whanau who are struggling with challenges that make it harder to care for their baby or young child. With Christmas being the toughest time of year for most families, the AH+ team sought to ease the burden.

“We believe that they [Family Start] are doing an awesome job out in our communities. Our values as a PHO mesh well with Family Start, so we decided this year we would donate instead of running an in-office secret Santa” says AH+ CEO Wayne Williams.

“I just can’t believe the generosity of the team at AH+. We totally did not expect this! Our families out there, are really struggling as Christmas nears. These donations will go a long way in making a big difference” says Colleen Fakalogotoa.

The donation drive was such a hit, that staff in adjacent offices where AH+ is located offered to donate as well. “It was awesome to see what the team downstairs at AH+ were doing and we felt that we would chip in. We usually do a money run around the office to donate, but I think we might start doing the same as Alliance Health Plus” says Shelly Witehira from Watts and Hughes.

The Family Start team broke into song as a thank you to the AH+ staff for having donated canned food, children’s toys, cleaning products, clothing, homeware and other long-life food products.

Family Start are open to donations and are located at 11 Dalgety Drive, Wiri. Ph 0800 78 278.

We are proud to announce the appointment of two influential health leaders to the AH+ Board!

The AH+ Board is privileged and excited to appoint Dr Primrose- a highly respected doctor, consultant and advisor to the national health sector. Dr Primrose is a former Chief Advisor to the Ministry of Health on Primary Health Care, the immediate past Clinical Director for AH+ and current Chair of the Auckland Metro Clinical Governance Group,

Ms Sharon Shea has also been appointed by the AH+ Board. Ms Shea is exceptionally well qualified, with degrees in Law, Arts and Comparative Social Policy (Distinction). Well known and highly regarded as a consultant in the health sector Ms Shea is an internationally renowned trainer and practitioner of outcomes-based practice. Of Maori descent Ms Shea has worked extensively in Maori, Pacific and other high needs communities bringing great insight into the social determinants of health and dedication to improvement in health equity.

(Back- Ms Sharon Shea. Foreground - Dr Jim Primrose)

AH+ CEO Wayne Williams says that the appointments of Dr Jim Primrose and Ms Sharon Shea adds to the knowledge base, richness and diversity of Board discussions in advancing AH+ towards the achievement of its mission by inspiring health transformation.

AH+ Chairman Uluomato’otua (Ulu) Saulaulu Aiono says that securing the two new appointees significantly increases Alliance Health Plus' ability to attain its four strategic goals in a few years.

The Alliance Health Plus Board and staff formally welcomed Dr Primrose and Ms Shea on Wednesday, 18 October 2017. The ceremony was Pacific-led with strong Pacific and Maori representation inclusive of AH+'s staff, communities of interest and practice network's multiple cultures including Asian, Indian and European.

AH+ Board Members are now: Mr Ulu Aiono, Chairman; Dr Siro Fuata'i, Establishment Chairman & Deputy Chairman; Mr Leo Foliaki, Chairman of Finance, Audit and Risk; Dr Malakai Ofanoa; Dr Mark Eustace; Ms Sharon Shea; Dr Jim Primrose.

With another year over, it was that time again- the Alliance Health + Annual Awards Evening!

The hilarious MC Brian Sagala, Pacific Radio Network announcer, kicked off the processions at the Ellerslie Events Centre with everyone set for a great night to recognise the hard work that our practices and community groups have done over the past year.

This year's event was the largest we have hosted with almost 200 people attending. We had more awards this year recognising a range of clinical and community achievements and more representatives from across the health sector.

Entertainment was provided by St Giles- Mt. Albert Church Choir, who came runner ups in the Rheumatic Fever Sing Off hosted by AH+ with their original song 'Call the Doctor'. We also had the Macleans College Lion Dancers with their colorful display of inviting in luck and prosperity with an original dance.

The highlight of the night was the sobering story of struggle, resilience and determination within our primary health system delivered by Naoupu Tupuivao. Naoupu talked of her struggle trying to maintain the health of her children in unsuitable rental properties, a lack of understanding of the health system and a cultural struggle with mental health. She was able to take control of her and her children's health, as well as their lives with the help of South Seas Healthcare, one of the practices within the AH+ Practice Network.

We also recognised an important and amazing achievement of one of our clinical nurses within our Practice Network. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation awarded their presigtious Young Nurse of the year award to Jess Tiplady of Greenstone Family Clinic, Manurewa. Jess has been a huge part, and led regional initiatives around child skin infection and eczema.

Feedback from the night has been nothing short of humbling and glowing. We would like to thank all DHB representatives, Ministry of Health representatives, Member of Parliament, our network of practice staff, our community groups & parishes, our board members and lastly our own AH+ staff for setting up and continuing the work of our PHO.

Once again, congratulations to all the winners and to all those involved with the dedication and work that they have to improve health outcomes for all of our communities.

List of award winners:

Clinical

Cervical Screening:

Hall Ave Medical Centre

Rosebank Road Medical

Cardiovascular Disease Management:

Tongan Health Society - Langimale Clinics

Cardiovascular Disease Risk Assessment:

Pukekohe Family Doctors

Tongan Health Society - Langimale Clinics

Diabetes Management:

Hong Kong Surgery

Immunisations

Hall Ave Medical Centre

Hong Kong Surgery

Queen St Medical Centre

Sandhu Doctors

Mental Health:

CMDHB - Greenstone Family Clinic

ADHB - Avondale Family Health Centre

Patient Portal:

Bishop Medical Centre

Southpoint Family Doctors

Smoking Brief Advice

Seddon Medical Centre

Technology

Caring Clinic Doctors

Community

Healthy Village Action Zone

EFKS Grey Lynn

EFKS Sandringham

Samoan Christian Church - Otahuhu

Aiga Challenge winner

Pisila Gasu - First Revival Church, Otahuhu

Nurtirion SME - 6 week

Ioasa Tuimaseeve - Ponsonby Methodist Church

“Absolutely brilliant” is what Lita Foliaki, Pacific Planning and Funding Manager- Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) describes the work being carried out by Alliance Health Plus (AH+) in their fight to reduce the alarming rates of Rheumatic Fever among Pasifika.

“We have seen our service grow to multiple events carried out throughout churches, schools and communities in Auckland. We believe we have found the formula for delivering successful communications to our people and getting them to understand and act upon the messaging around Rheumatic Fever” says Sinia Saafi, Team Leader of Pacific Integration Development Services (PIDS) team of AH+.

The strategy has seen over 12,000 reported individual participants involved in the innovation projects- not including thousands more who have heard through word-of-mouth about the key messages around Rheumatic Fever. The PIDS team encourage and work alongside schools, community groups and churches to provide funding on how to formulate, take ownership and lead events such as singing competitions, theatre or poetry recitals that suit their respective audiences on Rheumatic Fever education.

“Although we are all Pasifika, it is important to remember that we all have our own unique cultures and although the majority of us may be Christian we all have our o

wn specific denominations that we are a part of. Within this there is also the hierarchical element. So, it is vital that these aspects are recognised when encouraging our families and communities when health messages are being delivered” says Sinia.

The team have been targeting specific hotspot areas around the Auckland region where Rheumatic Fever rates are high, such as Kelston where one successful event attracted over 500 attendees from the local Samoan community and Papatoetoe where a Rheumatic Fever performance night saw 300 attendees gathering from the local Tongan community.

The projects have become such a hit with organisations that calls from as far afield as Taupo have been made requesting to be a part of the strategy. Requests such as this show that these projects are desperately needed elsewhere outside of Auckland in order to tackle the rates nationally.

The PIDS team of AH+ believe that with their past, current and future events they will be a big part of reducing the high numbers of Pasifika contracting the disease. Saveasoi Temukisa Amituanai-Andrews, the Rheumatic Fever Coordinator for PIDS says “I think we’ve found the key to getting the messages out there, understood and acted upon. We hope to open many more doors with this key and ensure that all Pasifika in New Zealand take action and responsibility to reduce the Rheumatic Fever rates”

Caring Clinic Doctors was officially opened today by Dame Susan Devoy, Race Relations Commissioner saying that the clinic simply is “fantastic”.

With an emphasis on technology and physical design of the clinic, associate practice owner, Dr. Ruoh Sim says “We want the clinic to feel as something other than a place for sick people, rather a place people come to feel energized and inspired about the healthcare services they receive”

Offering services such as Skype consults to tackle after hours, e-prescriptions, online bookings through patient portals and translation services are fit to Caring Clinic’s main patient profile of international students.

“We saw a gap in the primary healthcare sector for international student focused care. One of the pillars of the NZ International Students strategy is health and wellbeing; we hope to be strong champions of this” says associate practice partner, Dr. Jessie Liu.

Caring Clinic’s emphasis on technology and paving the way for more innovative primary healthcare resonates well with Alliance Health +’s (AH+) new strategic approach. “Having Caring Clinic as part of our Practice Network is helping to push for a more innovative and fit-for-purpose way of delivering primary health care to our families and communities” says Wayne Williams, AH+ CEO. “We’re excited about what’s to come. Watch this space!”

Location: Level 8, 175 Queen Street, Auckland.

In just six weeks Alliance Health Plus (AH+) has increased its overall Patient Portal registrations by 3,235 thanks to a competition run between its practices.

The competition ran from 1 April till 15 May, involved all 25 practices and 109,000 patients. The push to increase portal registrations was a response to Ministry of Health (MoH) target of 10% of all PHO enrolled patient populations being registered by 30 June. AH+ is only 0.25% away from achieving this target and will be able to do this early.

Philippa Little, Project Manager for the Patient Portal implementation at AH+ says: “The competition was a bit of fun to get the practices more involved with the portal implementation. But, we did not expect to get the amazing response and increase that we’ve seen.”

Bishop Medical in East Tamaki was a standout during the competition with a 24% increase in registrations over the 6 week period, bringing 50% of their patient population onboard with the patient portal.

Dr. Rajneesh Sharma, from Bishop Medical said: “the increase in patients on the portals has meant a reduction in calls relating to booking in appointments, lab results and repeat prescriptions.” Patient feedback has also been overwhelmingly positive.

“One patient explained they felt ‘empowered by using the portal’ as they felt more confident in having easier, live access to their medical records as well as being able to track their health goals and journaling health issues” he continued.

Aiming to reach the MoH target early is an example of how AH+ continues to inspire health transformation for its practices and patients.

Alliance Health Plus (AH+) is delighted to announce that once again it is the only PHO in New Zealand to have gained ISO certification for quality management systems and for this year, to the most recent standard - S/NZS ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems

Certification was again gained with no corrective actions identified, highlighting the organisation’s commitment to high quality management systems and processes.

Wayne Williams, Chief Executive, of Alliance Health Plus says: “This is a fantastic achievement for the organisation and demonstrates to our network of practices and the wider health sector that the organisation is willing to ‘walk the talk’ when it comes to quality, efficiency and effectiveness measures.

“To achieve ISO without any recommendations is testimony to the hard work and dedication of the team,” he continues.

The report from ISO said: “The organisation has a clear commitment to high performance in delivering PHO services. Since the previous audit the organisation has renewed their mission, vision and values within a new Strategic Plan [WW1] and continues to embed its quality management system and expand the number of general practices they support.”