Partnership Health Canterbury's Board

Independent Chair

Michael McEvedy Kt.StJ., JP

Michael is the longest serving Canterbury mayor, having served four terms as the Mayor of Selwyn, retiring from the position in October 2007. Throughout his mayoralty he led the region through a period of exponential growth in population, involving creation of substantial urban development. He also chaired the Canterbury Mayoral Forum.

In addition to extensive experience in local government, he is an experienced chairman, having served on a wide variety of community service organisations in health, agriculture and education, including Eldercare and Child Cancer Trust.

He has had more than 30 years' involvement with St John and was recently recognised for that. He is the local government advisor to the police commander, chairs an Environment Canterbury committee and is a board member of Local Government New Zealand. He spent ten years as a board member of the Canterbury A&P Association and served 17 years as chair of one of Christchurch's secondary schools, including its transition from a private school to full public funding.

Iwi

Dr Matea Gillies MB ChB, Dip Obst, Dip Cl Teach

Matea has been in general practice in Hornby for the past seven years, at the same time working as the medical officer at Paparua Prison. In 2007, he has also become an observer on the Canterbury District Health Board. Before these roles, he worked in general practice in Ballina, New South Wales, which included working with the local Aboringinal community, alongside work in the Ballina Hospital.

In line with his key interests of Maori and indigenous health and elderly care, Matea is chairman of Manawhenua ki Waitaha, the health representative for Rapaki Runanga, a board member of Te Poho o Tamatea and an associate of the Maori/Indigenous Health Institute, MIHI.

Wendy Dallas-Katoa Comp RN, BA, Dip Public Health

Wendy has more than 20 years' experience working in Maori health. She has worked in hospitals as a practice nurse and public health nurse. She has also worked for a national programme with the Maori Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) prevention team, coordinating Te Waipounamu and training Maori providers in Tamariki Ora best practice models.

Wendy spent seven years at Pegasus Health as the manager/advisor for Maori Health, working with general practice teams. She is now working part-time at both Pegasus Health and the Maori Indigenous Health Institute, Otago, Christchurch School of Medicine, where she is part of the teaching team and a Research Fellow on an international collaborative project on indigenous health workforce networks.

Wendy represents Onuku Runaka on Manawhenua ki Waitaha. She is also working towards a Masters degree in Public Health at Otago University.

Pacific Island Representative

Lincoln Papali'i

Lincoln has a varied background in local and regional government. He has worked in areas of finance, internal audit, water and drainage services, business and enterprise development, property and infrastructure services, as well as community, recreation, leisure and arts services.

Lincoln has maintained an interest in the health sector since undertaking specific projects with the former Auckland Area Health Board while undertaking his accounting studies, and, more latterly, with the Counties Manukau District Health Board where he established projects such as the National Pacific Diabetes Framework and Capacity Building Programmes for Providers. He has worked closely with Pacific providers such as TaPasifika Health Trust, the first Pacific PHO in the country, and other Pacific providers across the health sector. Lincoln joined the PHO Board in June 2008.

Territorial Local Authorities

Ngaire Button

Ngaire is an elected member of the Christchurch City Council and prior to that served a term on the Shirley/Papanui Community Board. Having a keen interest in community wellbeing Ngaire has worked in many different community organisations including women’s support and personal growth groups and the Neighbourhood Trust. Ngaire has also served four years on the Board of Trustees at Emmanuel Christian School.

Ngaire has a wide life experience having raised her first two children on her own as a solo mum and understands the barriers to access services that hardship can bring. As a mother of six, Ngaire is interested in any issues which affect families and especially children and young people.

Jack Pearcy

Jack is a dedicated public servant with many years of experience as an advocate for health issues in the Selwyn District. He was involved in keeping Ellesmere Hospital open and with the upgrading of the building to what it is today. Jack has served as a Selwyn District Councillor since 1989, and was first elected to the Ellesmere County Council five years earlier. During that time he has been the Council’s spokesperson on health issues.

At the present time Jack is the Chair of St John Ellesmere Area Committee, as well as an active volunteer ambulance officer rostered on call weekly. Jack dedicates a lot of his time to being involved with the Friends of Ellesmere Hospital, the Ellesmere Cancer Society and the Selwyn Pandemic Liaison Committee, as well as supporting the Malvern Community Board Medical Sub-Committee to relocate the Malvern Medical Centre to the Darfield Hospital grounds.

Consumer/Community Organisations

Julie Lowe

Julie has worked in most areas of the health services, including primary health care. She is professionally qualified in social work, health management and social policy. This background has enabled her to move from clinical practice to management and policy adviser at regional and national levels. Throughout her career Julie has always been involved with and worked alongside community groups, recognising their important contribution to a society's wellbeing.

Since her retirement and return to Canterbury, Julie has become involved with Caring for Carers. This is a community organisation that supports people who provide unwaged care for families and friends with a long-term mental, intellectual or physical illness or disability.

Julie's involvement with community groups ranges from local to national level and includes Age Concern, the AIDS foundation, Ryder Cheshire, Carers NZ and the development of a community health council.

Jill Nuthall BA, Dip SW

Jill has held a number of governance and management roles during the almost 40 years she has spent in the health sector. These include membership of the University of Canterbury council, Relationship Services board, National Heart Foundation board, Comcare board, the New Zealand Association of Social Workers' national executive and as executive director of the Public Health Association of New Zealand.

Jill has had extensive involvement in this country's health organisations and political structures and is considered an expert in the consultation process in the health sector. She developed an innovative model working as a social worker inside a general practice and researched and wrote a plan for reorientating health services to primary care. She was responsible for working with all community consultation committees north of Otago in the Southern Regional Health Funding Authority and later took on a national role with the Health Funding Authority. She wrote consultation guidelines for the Ministry of Health and District Health Boards.

Jill is a widely published qualitative researcher who has received national and international recognition, with extensive experience on policy bodies and in writing reports and policy papers for projects and conferences. She has been awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship, the Novartis Literary Award and been a resident scholar in Italy, USA and the UK.

John Elvidge QSM, MA, BD

John spent 15 years as Executive Director of Presbyterian Support Upper South Island, and was recognised for that work by being made a Fellow of
the Canterbury branch of NZIM and a member of the Institute of Directors. He served on the NZ Council of Christian Social Services from 1990 to 2005 and was its president from 1999 to 2003.

John has a background in counselling and spent 16 years at the Campbell Centre, seven years as its director. He travelled the USA on study scholarships and awards as preparation for Christchurch's first assertiveness and awareness courses and also wrote a widely used handbook on rural stress. John has served as president of the Canterbury Association for Mental Health, a member of the NZ Psychological Association and a registered psychologist.

John has worked as a university lecturer, a media columnist, a radio host and served on Radio New Zealand's Education Advisory committee. He is a
licenced Presbyterian Minister, a life member of Presbyterian Support and recipient of the Rotary Paul Harris award.

Contracted Provider Representatives

Dr Jenny Keightley MB ChB, Dip OBST, Dip MSM, MRNZCGP

Jenny has 26 years of general practice experience alongside voluntary community involvement. She is a partner in the Papanui Medical Centre and for five years was also the GP Liaison Officer for the Canterbury District Health Board. She has also worked as a medical officer for both the Auckland and Canterbury Area Health Boards. Her key areas of interest are primary care and community development.

She is a member of the Canterbury faculty of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and the New Zealand Medical Association. She is also a board member of the Christchurch Methodist Mission and the Christchurch Charity Hospital Clinical Board and has been a member of two school boards.

Dr Paul McCormack MB ChB

Paul has worked as a general practitioner for 28 years at New Brighton Health Care. Paul was one of the founding directors of Pegasus Health in 1992. Over the past eight years, Paul has been the leader of Pegasus Health, a general practice organisation of 1000 people – general practitioners, practice nurses, practice administration staff and staff in both the Pegasus 24 Hour Surgery and the Pegasus organisation. Pegasus Health is a clinically directed organisation which has a vision of creating a health system with vibrant general practice at its heart.

Paul was a founding director and chair of the 24-Hour Surgery in 1986 and was founding chair of the IPA Council – a national council of general practice organisations. His key areas of interest are improving health policy and developing health leadership.

Shelley Frost

Shelley is the Director of Nursing for Pegasus Health, with more than 25 years of practice nursing behind her. She is vice chair of both the General Practice Nursing Alliance and the Canterbury General Practice Group, a member of the CDHB divisional Nursing Advisory Committee, the Health Services Planning Reference Group and the CDHB Quality and Patient Safety Council.

She is deputy chair of the IPA Council of New Zealand and a director of Pegasus Health (Charitable) Ltd and of Pegasus 24 Hours Surgery.

She was the inaugural postgraduate tutor in practice nursing at the Christchurch School of Medicine and published "New Zealand Practice Nurse" and "Primary Health Care New Zealand" journals of continuing education from 1991-97. She represents primary care on the CPIT Nursing Advisory Group.

Prof. Les Toop

Les Toop has been in General Practice in Phillipstown, South East Christchurch, since 1986. He trained in Bristol and Edinburgh and first came to New Zealand in 1978.

Les is also Professor of General Practice and Head of the Department of Public Health and General Practice at the Medical School (University of Otago, Christchurch). He is actively involved in Undergraduate and Postgraduate Education, with a particular emphasis on promoting evidence based clinical practice, and in community based clinical research.

Les is a Director of Pegasus Health and is on the Council of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. He is a strong advocate for collaborative teamwork in General Practice and of the importance of professional education. He continues to campaign for greater provision of independent consumer health information.

Non-Contracted Provider Representatives

Jim Magee MBA, BA (HONS)

Jim is the Chief Executive of the Nurse Maude Association, which provides a wide range of community nursing and home care services in Canterbury and beyond. He has worked as a self-employed business consultant and has spent 14 years in high profile health sector roles with the Canterbury District Health Board, Healthcare Otago and the Otago Area Health Board.

As General Manager of Christchurch Hospital (2001–4), he was responsible for an annual budget of $240M and a staff of almost 3000 people. He led innovative programmes resulting in cost savings of more than $10M per annum and verifiable improvements in all significant efficiency indicators. He particularly focussed on bringing clinicians into the management process at all levels throughout the hospital.

As General Manager of the CDHB Women's Health Division, he led the process to achieve first time accreditation and negotiated improved service contracts, also improving communication and reducing costs.

Peter Cooke JP, QSM, MPharm, FPS

Peter's career as a community pharmacist saw him honoured in the Queen's Birthday honours of 2006 with a Queen's Service Medal for Public Service. He is a past winner of the Stevens NZ Pharmacy Marketing award, the Merck Sharp and Dohme award for Strictly Medicinal Marketing and the Zuellig Pharma Pharmacy marketing award.

He is a fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand, a fellow of the Australian College of Pharmacy Practice and Management and a member
of the Institute of Directors.

He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1991, conferred a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand in 2001 and has served as chairman of directors of CDC Pharmaceuticals Ltd, president of the Canterbury branch of the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand, representative on the Ministry of Health Primary Health Organisation National Task Force and on the Pharmac Medical Tendering Committee.