When an organisation earns 100 percent for quality work it’s worth celebration, and this year Mangapapa Medical Centre and The Village Clinic staff can do just that.

Mangapapa and The Village Clinic were the only two Turanganui Primary Health Organisation practices to achieve a blemish-free annual quality plan with the Pinnacle general practice network.

Staff at both Gisborne medical centres acknowledge the achievement, but do not bask in too much glory, saying they would expect nothing less from themselves.

“Once you are up there you shouldn’t really drop,” says Heather McLeod, Practice Manager at Mangapapa Medical Centre.

“We have had 100% three times, we did a lot of work to get there in the first place and we always want to get there again.”

At The Village Clinic, Practice Manager and nurse Jo Rogers laughs when asked if achieving 100% in a Pinnacle quality plan comes easy!

“Our own expectation is what leads us. Yes, it is a lot of work, and it takes you away from the hands on stuff, but as long as you have a focussed team it can be done.”

The plan for which they achieved 100% was Quality Plan 11 (QP11) and focused on child and influenza immunisation, cervical and breast screening, Cornerstone self assessment, disease coding, recording nurse consults, harm reduction, and professional development.

Both practice managers say while they are the whip crackers, it’s a team effort to ensure the targets are met.

Regular meetings, updates and checks are put in place as they work toward the goals. Working in a small practice helps they say.

Pinnacle Practice Liaison Robyne McKeague says the annual quality plans are a successful mechanism for promoting and enhancing quality. Last week she presented the two medical centres with framed certificates.

Both practices thanked Robyne for her help over the year.

Desmond Road Medical Centre is the last of Turanganui PHO’s general practices to go with the Very Low Cost Access payment option, meaning reduced fees for its patients.

Desmond Road’s fee structure changed on 1 January and saw GP fees for a standard consultation for a 6-17-year-old drop from $15 to $10.50. Standard consultations for patients aged 18-64 dropped from $24 to $16, and standard consultations for patients aged 65+ dropped from $19 to $16.

A general practice that has chosen the Very Low Cost Access payment option receives a greater Government subsidy and the fees it can charge have a maximum level set by the Government.

Desmond Road Medical Centre general practitioner Francois Jacobs says it is still early days and he has no clear sense yet on whether the change will be sustainable.

“We have had only our second monthly funding, so yes it is early days. But if anything, at the moment it appears to be cost neutral for us, maybe even slightly better.” He says they will continue to assess the situation.

Turanganui PHO’s other five practices: Kaiti Medical Centre, Mangapapa Medical Centre, Serendipity Health Ltd, City Medical Centre, and The Village Clinic had all taken up the Very Low Cost Access payment option offered by the Ministry of Health between October 2006 and July 2008.

The alternative for medical centres is the (not very differently named but very differently funded) Low Cost Access payment option.

Previously, as a Low Cost Access funded centre, DRMC did not receive as big a Government subsidy, and as a result could charge its enrolled patients slightly more.

Francois said one immediate change has been a drop in debt levels. With a reduced co-payment for patients, rather than defaulting “they seem to be willing to make a contribution.”