PNZ Elections Recommendations

Hello colleagues

You may be aware that the PNZ elections are now live with the President role and one Executive role up for election.

There have been many meetings with senior colleagues in our profession over the last 18 months around the ongoing concerns we have with PNZ’s performance and status. The 2022 November Leadership Day highlighted the concerns of many SIGs and Branches and this has been mirrored with the low satisfaction survey results. PNZ Executive were unclear on explaining why this might be.

The 2022 AGM also highlighted the many concerns from parts of the membership around PNZ’s performance, communication and not appearing to listen to some members, change in structure to Executive so our President has a much-reduced role, lack of advocacy for various sectors, and an apparent poor understanding of the many issues facing physiotherapy in New Zealand at the time. An unprecedented six past presidents were there to raise their concerns at that AGM.

Concerns were also raised about PNZ being “in the red’” and yet planning to spend around $1 million on an Outcomes Project, when PNZ didn’t appear to have a mandate or good support from members to do this. It was noted that it had never been able to be done anywhere else in the world.

It was noted that some of the support systems from member working groups and standing committees had been shut down and this was likely to be affecting PNZ’s ability to function proactively. The Exec were urged at that 2022 AGM meeting to use the skilled and experienced members to help with reforming groups and assisting PNZ.

PNZ Exec promised to listen to those various concerns and look at how they could address them. They replied four weeks later to the Pain SIG for example saying they had not changed their stance on not advocating for physiotherapists to ACC regarding many of the contracts and referred the Pain SIG to the Pain Society to act on their behalf instead.

It is nearly 12 months later, just on election time, and no working parties, or new standing committees have been informed and little has appeared changed.

When you read the Physiotherapy Matters and PNZ updates and newsletters it is portrayed that PNZ is strongly advocating for us and is well positioned to take us forward. Yet:

• PNZ are still in the red and PNZ is now using reserve funds to continue its projects.
• PNZ are in the red despite having a record number of members and they are now raising membership fees for next year.
• PNZ have had a poor presence in the media in an election year and election briefing documents were only released 4 weeks before the election. There was limited strategies around early release of organisation of briefing papers, position statements, lobbying tactics have been released to members over the last months to make sure we were heard-unlike previous years when we had full campaigns organized many months in advance and were very successfully implemented.
• ACC continues to impact our profession. It was heard that they recently gave a CPI increase to all suppliers except our Physiotherapy Specialists. They refuse to accept their ability to diagnose, stating that only medical practitioners can diagnose certain orthopaedic conditions, despite us having primary practitioner status since 1982 (see Mark Laslett’s article Navigating the Shifting Landscape of Physiotherapy and ACC’s Impact on the Profession in the Physio Matters October 2023 issue).
• PNZ has started some meetings with ACC to review the price used to calculate physiotherapy services. They are allowing ACC to set the Terms of Reference and are paying consultants to start looking at this. This is likely to take several years. This is despite the fact we have all that information and modelling from the ACC Physiotherapy Enquiry some years and merely need to plug some new costs in to quickly affirm our current rate range required.
• Many of our colleagues are leaving the private practice area as it seems unsustainable for them to continue. There are huge pay differences between the private and public sector (now in favour of the public sector) through excellent lobbying in that sector. This will have huge implications soon for the provision of the physiotherapy services between primary and secondary care. This is extremely concerning for the public with the health reforms coming.
• Physiotherapists have not been well heard during the early stage of the health reforms and that is concerning for our positioning moving forward.
• There appears to be a lack of infrastructure and skillset within PNZ to address the amount of work needed to be done by PNZ to lead and direct the profession at this crucial time.

It is time for change in PNZ.  Our profession needs all physiotherapy groups representing the profession to be strong and focused. The Trust urges you to consider the situation and take time to vote for this important election.

The Trust recommends putting your support behind Kirsten Davie who is standing for President, and Jon Warren, who is standing for Executive. Both have held multiple positions or represented physiotherapy over the years in many forums, including the PNZ President’s role, on the Physiotherapy Board, and during the ACC Physiotherapy Inquiry 2007. Other senior members are also supporting their nominations such as Dr Margot Skinner, Dusty Quinn, Gill Stotter-all previous Presidents or Vice Presidents, Duncan Reid, Mike Monaghan, and Angela Cadogan.

It is vital we have politically skilled physiotherapists leading our profession who can see the bigger picture, are not afraid to advocate strongly for our profession and can steer us back on track to regain our standing within the health sector. This is not intended to reflect negatively on the other two nominees, merely that it is the time for highly experienced physiotherapists to lead PNZ and effect change.

The Trust urges you to support their nominations and urge your colleagues to do the same by:

• sending an email and bios out to other PNZ members within your region and any networks that you are involved with or contacts you have to let them know that the election is happening; and
• encouraging your colleagues to endorse these candidacies if they also share these concerns.

Your profession needs your support to get back on track. Please take the time to vote. This is done via an email you should receive from electionz.com and voting is open from 19 October until 6 November.

Please feel free to contact Lee Gardiner, on ph 0274877109 or gardinerl@leederhealth.co.nz if you wish to discuss the concerns raised.

PNZ National Executive Elections 2023
Vote for Kirsten Davie - President & Dr Jon Warren - National Executive
This is a critical time for our profession due to the immense pressure on the healthcare system and growing equity concerns. Physiotherapy must strategically communicate its key messages and collaborate across both the private and public sectors. Advocacy is vital at all levels.
Kirsten and Jon have extensive experience in physiotherapy and are strong advocates for the profession. They have been actively involved with PNZ throughout their professional life at regional, national and international levels, including both having served terms as PNZ president. They also represented PNZ in the Ministerial Review on funding, essential for equity and retention.
Private physiotherapy practices are under considerable strain, with the remuneration packages of many health providers gaining significant increases over the last few months. Kirsten and Jon are aware that similar salary levels cannot be achieved in private practice due to the flawed funding model that ACC has adopted. These concerns were raised at last year’s PNZ AGM by a number of past presidents. Gaining positive advances on this key issue is vital for the sustainability of physiotherapy businesses.
PNZ’s policies must align with the evolving healthcare landscape. Championing diversity, inclusion, and addressing healthcare disparities is essential for an equitable healthcare system.
Jon and Kirsten value your input and are supported by many respected leaders in the profession including Gill Stotter, Margot Skinner, Duncan Reid, Lee Gardiner, Dusty Quinn, Michael Monaghan and Angela Cadogan. Let us advance physiotherapy together.
Vote for Kirsten Davie – President
Vote for Jon Warren - National Executive