Shelley Frost is to become the first nurse to chair General Practice New Zealand – an organisation covering 800 general practices across the country.
“It is great for the profession to have one of our own in that role,” said Frost who has been GPNZ deputy chair for the past six years.
“I will always be a nurse but my job (as chair) is to advocate for the primary care team and primary care network rather than any individual professional group.”But she said she will also remains as an advocate for nursing. “I’ll always be a nurse who is a leader as well as a nursing leader.” She also continues in her role as executive director of nursing for GPNZ, whose 15 member general practice networks represent about 2000 practice nurses as well as about 2000 GPs.
Her ‘day job’ is as director of nursing for Canterbury’s Pegasus Health and her other roles include board member of the Health Quality and Safety Commission, a member of the Ministry of Health’s primary care nursing sector reference group and co-owner of a Christchurch general practice.
Frost said since 2004 there has been two places for nursing as of right on the GPNZ board and GPNZ was inclusive of the professional groupings in primary care.
Outgoing chair and GP Bev O’Keefe said the executive was delighted Frost had accepted the position and she was a keen leader who was “totally committed” to teamwork and was a “strong proponent of primary care networks and clinical leadership”.
Frost said it was an exciting time for the sector with lots of opportunities on the horizon and she was looking forward to being part of it as GPNZ chair. She said as chair she was looking for GPNZ “to stay focused on securing a sustainable future for expanding general practice teams and primary care/healthcare networks at the heart of a sector committed to providing best care for patients”.
Kirsty Murrell-McMillan became the first nurse to lead a general practice organisation when she became chair of the New Zealand Rural General Practice Network in 2008.
Frost said she had received very positive feedback from the nursing profession –as well as from midwifery, allied health and pharmacy on her appointment, which was seen as an acknowledgement of other professional groups within general practice.
