New Zealand Self-Medication Industry (NZSMI) Association Conference

Kiaora tatou, good morning ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you Tim and NZSMI for the invitation to give the opening address for your annual conference, I am delighted to be able to join you. May I acknowledge Dr Gerald Dziekan, Director-General of the World Self-Medication Association and Mr Nicholas Hall for being here and for your willingness to share your insights with us. 

I want to also acknowledge Dr Janine ByCroft who will be launching the Self-Care Alliance. 

Today also marks a special milestone for the NZSMI in your journey of promoting self-care. I want to congratulate you on the launch of the Self-Care Alliance later this afternoon. We keep saying we are extremely fortunate in New Zealand to have a world class health system.

But that does not mean that just repeating the mantra is good enough. There are challenges posed by, for example, the needs of our ageing population and of the increasing numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions. And they place further demands on health and social services resources. We need to meet these needs in a way that is more efficient, more coordinated and achieves the most from our health dollars.

The theme of the conference ‘’Citizen Empowerment through Self Care’’ is therefore very appropriate. I am pleased that self-care is a focus for NZSMI particularly in the current environment of increasing pressure on our health resources and workforce.

Managing these challenges and demands will require greater empowerment of people to care for themselves through education and improved information complemented by public investment.

When consumers are empowered to take responsibility for their own care, they move from being passive recipients of care to being engaged in the decision-making about their care. The benefit of empowering citizens is that it involves and encourages interaction and engagement between communities and health care professionals.

Self care also places strong emphasis on the prevention of illness and making the right lifestyle changes or choices.

It also highlights the benefits of working with health professionals that are people’s first port of call in their communities, such as pharmacists and general practitioners (GPs).

As you are aware, people who live with chronic conditions face multiple challenges in their day to day life. Having the appropriate information and an accessible support system can assist them make the necessary lifestyle changes to improve their health and wellbeing. I know that not all people may be suited to self care but for those that are, we stand to make significant gains for the consumer through timely access to medicines, convenience and improved health outcomes.

There will also be wider savings to the New Zealand economy from better use of our limited health workforce resources, cost-savings from targeted use of complementary medicines and savings in reduced doctors’ visits.

Refreshing the New Zealand health strategy, shifting services and integration are some of the key priorities for the Government. The refreshed strategy will set a new vision and a road map for the next three to five years for the health sector.

Improved integration and care closer to home will help develop a more efficient and sustainable health system.

As new models of care evolve, and more people get the care they need away from hospitals, consumers and their families will have an even greater responsibility for managing their own health and self care will continue to have an important role in the design of the health system.

Integration will be central to the success of self care. GPs, pharmacists and other health professionals working collaboratively across health and social services and consumers’ involvement in the decision-making will provide a better experience for the consumer.

Medicines play an important role in helping New Zealanders get well, stay well and live well. As a country, we have made positive changes in this area, yet there is still significant work to be done to help better manage the challenges ahead of us. The work we are doing through the Medicines Strategy Action Plan provides an overarching framework to govern the regulation, procurement, management and use of medicines in New Zealand.

Implementing the strategy is about introducing the changes required to deliver on Medicines New Zealand and achieving best use of medicines for optimal health outcomes. We can only achieve these goals by harnessing the collective efforts of all health professionals, including those working in community organisations, primary health care pharmacy, hospitals, rest homes and end-of-life care.

I would like to thank NZSMI for your input into the development of the action plan and the feedback on various versions of the draft plan. The action plan supports the achievement of the Strategy’s outcomes which aligns well with the goals of the Self-Care Alliance.

On this note, I would like to shed some light on two reviews underway which are of interest to you. You may be aware that the Ministry of Health is developing a new regulatory regime for therapeutic products following the cessation of work on the Australia New Zealand Therapeutics Product Agency (ANZTPA) initiative. The new regime will be modern and comprehensive and I understand that the NZSMI is closely involved in the development of the new regime. The Minister of Health is leading this work and he is looking to get new legislation in place during 2017.

I know NZSMI represents a number of natural health product manufacturers and will be interested in the development of the Natural Health Products regulatory scheme. 

The Ministry has engaged extensively with the sector on the Natural Health Products Bill. Thank you again for engaging with this work.

The Bill is currently awaiting its Committee Stage in the House, and is intended to be passed this year, and come into effect mid-2016. The Ministry will shortly be consulting on the detailed regulatory instruments to support the Bill – lists of permitted ingredients and the like. We know you are keen to be involved, and the Ministry will make sure you have an opportunity to comment.

Helping us look to the future is the work currently being led by the Pharmacy Steering Group. The Steering Group is working with the Ministry to develop a Pharmacy Action Plan that will set the direction for pharmacy sector for the next three to five years. The Action Plan sets out how the capacity and capability of the pharmacy workforce can be most effectively used to deliver quality, accessible and cost-effective services.

We can all be proud of the fantastic progress made in the last few years towards utilising pharmacist skills better. I believe the Action Plan along with the Medicines New Zealand Strategy will support innovation and help move the sector towards better integrated and consumer-centred care in New Zealand. 

We are world leaders in down-scheduling medicines to improve consumer access.

Our progressive approach to down-scheduling from prescription to OTC has been recognised internationally and has offered great benefits to consumers from increased timely access to medicines, lower costs and reduced barriers to treatments. 

We are also making effective use of pharmacist skills in primary health by improving health literacy and reducing doctor visits for conditions that can reasonably be self-managed or pharmacist-managed. The increasing role of pharmacists as the first port of call in communities frees up general practitioners time to focus on more complex health cases.

The Action Plan is currently out for consultation with key stakeholders, including consumer representatives. The consultation process started on 12 October 2015 and finishes 23 November 2015. I encourage you to take the opportunity to provide feedback so that together we can make better use of our pharmacy workforce to improve health outcomes for all New Zealanders.

Pharmacy plays an important role in primary care sector and increasingly in the delivery of integrated care. A lot of work has been undertaken over the last two years to make more effective use of pharmacist skills. We have lots of great examples where better use of pharmacist’s skills is having positive impacts on patient outcomes.

• We have 149 pharmacies across 20 district health boards that are contracted under the Community Pharmacy Services Agreement to provide anti-coagulation service to more than 5,000 people.

• As at the end of June 2015, there were over 500 pharmacist vaccinators working across 274 pharmacies providing influenza, meningococcal and combined diptheria, tetnus and pertusis (dTap) vaccines.

• There are approximately 130,000 people enrolled in the Pharmacy Long Term Conditions (LTC) adherence service.

The Government will continue to support and provide the infrastructure needed for self-managed care and new ways of interacting with the health sector. More efficient sharing of patients’ health information will reduce the administrative burden and reduce waiting times for treatment. We need to keep this in mind when we invest in improvements to the IT infrastructure of the whole health sector.

The Government, supported by the National IT Health Board, has a clear eHealth vision – that all New Zealanders will have their personal health information available electronically to them and their treatment providers, regardless of where or who they are.

To achieve this, the Government has invested in IT systems that make it easier to share patient information. eHealth initiatives such as Patient Portals and Electronic Prescription Systems will help drive and empower citizen with self-care management.

The implementation of patient portals in general practice will empower people to take more control of their own care. Patients can book appointments, order repeat medications and view their clinical information online, at any time of day.

Self care is a critical part of the health system and offers a great solution to some of the challenges we are facing with an aging population and increasing incidence of people with long term conditions.

To finish off, I would like to thank Tim, the NZSMI and your partner organisations for your initiative and excellent work promoting and developing a Self-Care Alliance in New Zealand. I also encourage you to share your knowledge and ideas with your fellow health professionals during this conference.

Finally, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this morning. Enjoy the rest of the conference.