ProCare’s new chief executive negotiates tight turn, taking her from real-estate role to health sector

So it's really [about] understanding what's important to driving good health outcomes. It's making a difference

It’s been a sharp corner for Bindi Nor­well to negotiate, steering her career from real estate to health.

In mid-March, as chief executive of the Real Estate Institute, Mrs Norwell was posting online about the “new re­cord median price for the country”.

Then just a month later, she was posting: “We believe general practices are well placed to help fast-track the vaccine rollout and provide the support to their patients where needed.”

In the interim, she had started, on 29 March, as chief executive of ProCare, replacing Steve Boomert, who finished up on 22 December after leading the organisation for seven years.

She seems to have taken the tight turn with ease, quickly settling into a well-worn track of promoting the inter­ests of general practices and their pa­tients, which are at the heart of ProCare as a PHO and valued general practice support network.

But just as she should be changing into a cruisier gear for the journey, she has to face the approaching S-bends of the Government’s health reforms and the possibility of significant changes for primary care.

“I love the fact there is change com­ing,” she says at one point, in an inter­view conducted before the reforms were announced. “Change is also op­portunity,” she says at another. “We just need to make sure we are navigating through it.”

Mrs Norwell, who has a son aged 12 and a daughter aged 14, is originally from Melbourne. She moved to the UK after finishing her studies and worked for British Telecom in finance and strategy roles for approximately nine years. While liv­ing in the UK, she married a New Zealander in Portugal.

After moving to New Zealand, she worked for the data analytics and brand consultancy company Kantar, then for the Real Estate Institute for nearly four and a half years.

Of her role as executive director at Kantar, she says, “What I really loved around that was being customer-centric.” That, she says, is what drew her to the health sector.

“The customer focus – there are the people at the centre of health [the community], but also the health pro­fessionals are key, like GPs, nurses and practice advisers; there is a range of health professionals.

“So it’s really [about] understanding what’s important to driving good health outcomes.

“It’s making a difference.”

Mrs Norwell was approached for her new job by a recruitment firm which told her ProCare wanted someone with experience in the strategic direction of organisations and who could drive change and be an advocate and leader.

She adds that she also brings valuable experience in using data analytics, innovation and technology to drive outcomes.

Acknowledging that “there is a lot going on” in the health sector, she aims to rapidly get under way in meeting the important players, starting with the leaders of the other three N4 PHOs – Pinnacle Midlands, Tū Ora Compass and Pe­gasus Health.

“I’m going to meet most of our GPs as soon as possible, but also the key stakeholders in the health industry as well – from government, to other PHOs, to DHBs – in a very short space of time,” she says.