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Useful tools:

Session 1:

Session 1 Constraints and barriers gout collaborative.pdf

Session 3:

Session 3 Lessons.pdf

Session 3 Cornerstone CQI and Equity.pdf

Setting up a collaborative with other practices

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💡 Working with other practices is one of the fastest ways to improve gout care.

Teams learn from each other, share what works, and keep each other going. This page shows you how to run your own gout collaborative, with the tools the ProCare practices used.

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Thinking of running your own collaborative? Start here

1. Gather two to five practices, each with a named champion.
2. Pull and clean your gout data, focusing on whānau Māori and Pacific peoples (your PHO can help; the EPiC dashboard is useful).
3. Run three short virtual sessions, about 6 to 8 weeks apart (see below).
4. Use the Model for Improvement and PDSA cycles to test changes on a small scale.
5. Reflect with the "5 whys", celebrate the wins, and build what works into business as usual.

The three sessions

▶ Session 1 — What is our aim, and why?

▶ Session 2 — What changes can we make?

▶ Session 3 — Review the outcome

▶ Final session — Review

What the ProCare Gout Collaborative achieved

A gout collaborative ran with five ProCare practices from May to November 2022, with a final meeting in June 2023 to reflect on results, including the "business as usual" period afterwards. It was undertaken during primary care workforce shortages and the ongoing impact of COVID-19.

An analysis by ProCare found all five practices achieved statistically significant improvements for Pacific peoples with gout, and one practice also for whānau Māori. The collaborative:

• used continuous quality improvement methods,
• focused on whānau Māori and Pacific peoples with gout, designed to achieve equitable outcomes, while still providing appropriate care for all other patients with gout,
• gave each practice ProCare public health data to clean and work with (some used all their Māori and Pacific data, others a subset),
• ran as three one-hour virtual meetings on Thursday evenings, 6 to 8 weeks apart.

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The approach and the practices' change ideas shaped much of this Guide, especially the team-knowledge content. Examples from the collaborative appear throughout.

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About ProCare's Better Together Collaboratives

ProCare's Better Together Collaboratives are an evidence-based quality improvement approach that brings teams from different general practices together to improve their service in a structured way, learning best practice and QI tools, and sharing real experiences of making change.

The method is adapted from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Model for Improvement, which asks:

• What are we trying to accomplish?
• How will we know a change is an improvement?
• What change can we make that will lead to improvement?

Most improvement uses Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycles.

To download and view the Collaborative report (pdf)

Example of a process flow chart From Mangere Health Centre

Developed as part of the ProCare Gout Collaborative

Related pages:

• CQI activities
• Building your team
• Data

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About the Gout Guide

A practical guide for primary care teams in Aotearoa New Zealand, focused on equitable gout care for whānau Māori and Pacific peoples. For sources and the team behind it, see the References and About & Contact pages.

Spotted something out of date, or have feedback? We'd love to hear it, email [email protected]. We review content regularly and welcome corrections.

Brought to you by Health Literacy NZ and **Health Navigator Charitable Trust which provides the Healthify He Puna Waiora website.** This Gout Guide website builds on the ProCare Gout Collaborative and Whanganui GOUT STOP programme.

Healthify He Puna Waiora is a charitable trust. Support our mahi to keep trusted health information free.

↩ Back to home · References · Patient & whānau resources

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Last reviewed: 12 June 2026 · Next review due: June 2028 · Reviewer: Dr Janine Bycroft, GP and Clinical Director, Healthify He Puna Waiora