Hon Heather Roy, ACT Deputy Leader
Saturday, May 15 2010

Hon Heather Roy Speech To The New Zealand Society Of Physiotherapists 2010 Conference; Waipuna Conference Centre, Auckland; Saturday, May 15 2010

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa

Good morning Physiotherapists. Thank you Jon (Warren, President of the NZSP) for your warm welcome and your invitation to speak and open your 2010 Conference.

These days I can sometimes be heard saying that in a former life I was a physiotherapist. Physiotherapy was the profession I embarked on straight from school and the pathways established in ones formative years always have a powerful effect on future attitudes, outlook and decisions.

It has been many more years than I care to remember since I treated a patient but I still find myself offering – usually unsolicited – advice on how to use a pair of crutches properly or how to stretch effectively before playing sport. I am frequently not thanked for this advice but once a physio, always a physio!
Neurology was my specialty area and it saddens me to see someone who has obviously had a stroke or has a neurological condition and would benefit from even a session or two of mat work in a physio gym to improve their gait or functional activities.

I’m often asked why I would move from a profession that is very well regarded by the public to one that sits somewhere around the level of respect of second-hand car salesmen. There really is no simple answer to that. Politics certainly wasn’t in my master plan, but with changing circumstances came new opportunities and a change of career direction.

Preparing for this speech I was surprised by the amount of change that has taken place in the Physiotherapy profession since I was part of it.

The first piece of legislation I was involved in when I entered parliament in 2002 was the Health Practitioners Competency Assurance (HPCA) Bill (now Act). We battled with the concept of Scopes of Practice and I was particularly grateful at the time for my clinical background and knowledge. I hope we politicians got the balance right between a sensible regulatory environment and ensuring as much as is possible that safeguards for patients are in place.

Scope of Practice was a significant change for all professions covered by the HPCA. Today they are an accepted and useful part of registration.

One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed is the hefty emphasis on research and I congratulate Physiotherapy New Zealand on its valuable contribution in this area. Your conference theme “Working together, Research and Practice” highlights an important partnership. Without up-to-date research to inform evidence-based changes to practice you merely tread water.

Incorporating new findings into your day-to-day clinical practice is an important part of Best Practice and those who embrace and engage in this partnership have a distinct competitive advantage. At the same time those working the area of pure research need to consider the relevance of their work to clinical practice. It shouldn’t be a case of “us” and “them” but both working together.

Change in the entire medical field is evident and it would be fair to say that medicine is moving away from the biomedical model to a more patient centred model.

The patient is a consumer with choices – choices of provider, choices of type of provider and perhaps most importantly, consumers have easy access to information – usually via the internet – which makes them consumers with expectations.

As Minister of Consumer Affairs this is an area I am very interested in. My focus is to promote an environment in which consumers can transact with confidence. But we’re not a business; we’re the health sector I can hear some of you thinking.

The real measure of test of success is whether or not others, especially younger people see a profession or an organisation as something that they want to join.

I was a bit surprised but very pleased when my daughter decided she wanted to be a physio. She started this year at the Otago School. We’re both enjoying comparing notes – what’s the same, what’s new and what’s changed? She is very excited about her future career and I’m excited for her because Physiotherapy is a profession I still feel proud of.

Enjoy your conference. I know you will go home with new ideas and renewed enthusiasm for the work you do and can be justifiably proud of.

ENDS

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