UCNN Contact:
Shell Piercy
Founder and Facilitator
nzcphcnucnn@gmail.com
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We hope you'll join us
Urgent Care Nurses Network's Purpose
The Urgent Care Nurses Network’s purpose is to support urgent care nurses with:
- education
- practise standards and resources
- liaison with external providers
- industry research and
- advocacy.
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Urgent Care Nurses Network Survey
The NZCPHCN recognizes that UC is a specialty of nursing, and as such there are specific knowledge and skills required for career progression of UC nursing. These knowledge and skills are in addition to the Primary Health Care Nursing Standards of Practice 2019 which is a requirement of all PHC nurses.
When we look at Emergency Nursing, it is widely accepted that within your orientation into an Emergency Department (ED) you will complete a certain list of skills and obtain certain knowledge supported with education packs and online learning. Within two years of practice within an ED, you are expected to add additional courses and move to areas of higher equity, such as triage. This system also means that if an experienced nurse transfers from one ED to another the credentialing process is seamless.
This is the type of framework that needs to be implemented in UC. Thank you for your participation in this survey. The results will build the framework once we know what the industry needs, and we can build the courses and provide support to clinics with educational tools and credentialing documents.
Shell Piercy Founder and Facilitator of the UCNN is conducting industry research in the form of a survey and asking ‘what knowledge and skills are expected of a highly trained and experienced Urgent Care (UC) Nurse?’
We will ask
- nurses at all levels with an interest in UC
- those currently working in UC
- those who have previously worked in UC
- Practice Managers
- medical colleagues at all levels of fellowship and
- General Practitioners
Click here to complete the anonymous survey.
This information will build an educational framework that will support UC nurses to meet the
- industry needs
- build a nationally recognized progression pathway for UC nurses
- assist clinics with credentialing nurses
- improving patient safety and outcomes and
- improving patient flow.
This survey has been through the Health and Disability Commissioner’s ethical approval process and is exempt from needing ethical approval.
It consists of
- basic demographic data
- a Likert scale to determine how important each skill or area of knowledge is, and
- free text boxes for anything you would like to contribute.
Thank you again for helping us to help you improve patient outcomes and build a strong nursing presence in UC.
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Optimal Cord Clamping courseNEW 
This is a free learning module from the Australasian College of Paramedicine, this course is available to both ACP College members and non-members.
Non-members will need to create a free guest account to enrol.
https://paramedics.org/eLearning/optimal-cord-clamping
Changes to the ACC Urgent Care Contract
Kia ora
Thank you to all who attended our webinars last week, and to those who have already provided feedback to us.
If you weren’t able to make it to one of the webinars, or if you’d like to watch again, a link to the recording will be available shortly. We’ve also included a copy of the presentation slides, and the full set of questions and answers from the webinar with this email.
To summarise the key points that were discussed in the webinars:
- We acknowledge that Urgent Care Clinics and the wider primary care system are facing significant challenges on multiple fronts
- We plan to introduce some interim changes to the Urgent Care contract from 1 July 2023, while we work on a wider service redesign in partnership with you
- An invitation for expressions of interest to be part of the expert reference group working on the redesign will be sent out in the near future
We hope the proposed changes will alleviate some of the pressures Urgent Care Clinics are facing, while also keeping contract costs sustainable for ACC.
We understand that this is a time of uncertainty for the Urgent Care sector, and that it is important for you to know the details of the new pricing schedule before providing feedback to us. We intend to circulate the updated pricing schedule to Urgent Care contract holders as soon as possible, and will extend the closing date for feedback to allow sufficient time for you to consider our proposed changes.
As a reminder, we’ve summarised the key proposed changes in the table below:
| Proposed change from 1 July 2023 |
Details |
| Differential in and out of hours rates for initial consults |
We will pay a higher rate for out of hours initial consults, between the hours of
5pm – 8am weekdays, weekends and public holidays.
The additional public holiday subsidies for under 14s and Community Services Card holders and their dependants will be removed, as the higher rate will apply to all patients seen on a public holiday (including holidays that fall on a weekend and are observed on a Monday).
Standard additional subsidies for under 14s and Community Services Card holders and their dependants will still apply for initial consults.
The initial consultation time banding will remain the same i.e., up to 20 minutes,
21 – 40 minutes and over 40 minutes.
|
| Procedure codes may only be charged in conjunction with a short initial consult or a follow-up consult |
This change is intended to reduce duplication in payments for time taken to perform procedures in both the consultation and procedure codes.
|
| There will be a single code only for follow-up consults |
The simple and complex follow-up codes will be replaced by a single follow-up code, which will be paid at a higher rate than the current UC10 simple follow-up code.
Complexity of follow-ups is captured via procedure codes.
The rate will be the same for in and out of hours follow-ups, to encourage follow-up in general practice where possible to ensure continuity of care.
Standard additional subsidies for under 14s and Community Services Card holders and their dependants will still apply for follow-up consults.
|
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Useful links
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