New Zealand background
bpacnz was established in July 2003 as a partnership between the University of Otago, Southlink Health, First Health and the IPA Council. Southlink Health and First Health are both Independent Practitioner Associations (IPAs) and the IPA Council is a national body representing 17 IPAs. IPAs were set up by general practitioners as representative bodies to communicate with health authorities with the view that GPs could be more effective working as a group than as individuals, and have evolved to provide educational, systems and pastoral support to their members.
IPAs also hold budgets for pharmaceuticals and laboratory tests. To manage demand, IPAs established pharmaceutical facilitation services based around feedback and the promotion of evidence based practice, usually employing pharmacists to facilitate discussion in small group meetings.
Best Practice Advocacy Centre
The aim was to embrace marketing techniques and promote pharmaceutical and prescribing best practice to GPs, developed in close consultation with GPs. As a result the Best Practice Advocacy Centre began providing GPs with:
- Regular, detailed feedback on their prescribing including peer comparisons.
- Evidence based resources including our own series of POEMs, bulletins, patient information, etc.
- Regular representative visits to discuss prescribing reports and recommendations.
- And of course, a subscription to Bandolier.
The concept was to provide a framework in which individuals could review their own prescribing and draw their own conclusions as to the need for change. Representatives made sure that our message didn’t get lost in the mail pile, and added value by providing GPs the opportunity to discuss their prescribing and the recommendations. The idea was to challenge GPs to review their prescribing, not tell them what to do.
The establishment of bpacnz
In 2002 it was decided to have one national NZ organisation promoting best practice. bpac nz is an independent organisation whose role is to promote responsible use of pharmaceuticals to general practitioners and other health professional groups throughout New Zealand. bpac nz aims to:
- develop and distribute resources that provide prescribers with a sound basis on which to review the way they prescribe for and treat their patients.
- provide clear, concise and relevant information based on the best available evidence (hence the appeal of Bandolier).
- use a collaborative and cooperative approach coupled with appropriate marketing and market analysis to ensure we develop positive programs targeted to meet the needs of prescribers and patients.
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