-
There are now more than 130 fact sheets, templates and resources available on the Practice Assist website, which can be found in the Resource Library.
This month we have added fact sheets on:
We have also taken the hard work out of writing your practice policies and procedures, by providing the Policy and Procedure Practice Manual. The Manual is a full set of template policies and procedures aimed at assisting a general practice with achieving accreditation against the RACGP Standards for General Practices (4th edition). The Manual can be found in The Tool Kit as a MS Word document for practices to edit to suit your own practice needs. Visit HERE If there is a fact sheet, template or other resource you would like us to provide, or if you have a question for our Help Desk team, please contact 1800 2 ASSIST (1800 2 277 478) or email support@practiceassist.com.au
Presented by Dr Michael Civil, formerly Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee - Standards for general practices.
These free, catered sessions will discuss the changes to the Standards, the implication of the changes, and how to meet them in your general practice.
For session information and to register, please visit HERE
The Practice Incentive Program (PIP) has been a key driver in quality care in the general practice sector and the PIP QI Incentive will continue to build on this important work, further strengthening quality improvement in primary health care.
As announced in the 2017-18 Federal Budget measure Quality Improvement in General Practice, the design of the new QI Incentive will support general practice to better understand the quality of care being delivered, leading to better outcomes for patients.
However, in a statement released to Primary Health Networks (PHNs) this week, the Australian Government stated that the additional 12 months will enable the Department to ensure that any implementation issues are identified and addressed and that general practice have adequate opportunity to prepare.
Through practice support teams, such as Practice Assist in Western Australia, PHNs are already working closely with many practices to implement quality improvement – this work will not be slowed due to the new implementation date. The additional time frame will also allow the Department to have more detailed conversations with your practice support staff on how quality improvement is delivered in each of your respective regions.
The changed time frame will mean that the following five incentives which were to cease on 1 May 2018, will now continue through to 30 April 2019.
The five Incentives are:
The WA Cervical Cancer Prevention Program (WACCPP) will launch a new Cervical Screening Flipchart resource to coincide with National Closing the Gap Day on 15th March 2018.
The flipchart is designed to support healthcare providers in WA to engage with Aboriginal women about the importance of regular cervical screening and has been developed in close consultation with the BreastScreen WA and the WACCPP Aboriginal Women’s Reference Group.
For more information, please contact Kay Walley, Aboriginal Health Promotion Officer at kay.walley@health.wa.gov.au or telephone (08) 6553 0716.
A collection of resources are also available to help you understand and communicate what the cervical screening changes mean for women and healthcare providers in WA.
Resources
The Australian Government will fund two new flu vaccines in 2018 to try to better protect the elderly:
Preliminary information obtained from the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) indicates that providers may be missing key opportunities to protect children from serious meningococcal disease. AIR data suggests that many children attending for their routine immunisations scheduled at 18 months and three and a half to four years have not been given the MenACWY vaccine.
MenACWY vaccines are safe to administer at the same time as other scheduled childhood vaccines. Nimenrix® can be given as a single dose to children receiving their 12 or 18 month scheduled vaccination and Menveo® should be used as a single dose to protect children aged two years and older, including when they present for scheduled vaccinations on or after three and half years of age.
The number of meningococcal infections in WA doubled between 2016 and 2017, and last year children under five years of age had more than twice the number of meningococcal infections compared to any other age group.
Please ensure that you opportunistically vaccinate all children aged 12 months to less than five years, regardless of the reason they attended your clinic.
In preparation for the influenza season, immunisation providers are reminded that all vaccinations, including adult vaccinations, should be reported to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).
Providers who use practice management software should check with their vendors whether their software is up to date, to ensure all adult vaccinations are transmitted to the register. Providers that use paper-based systems and the online AIR Secure Site to transfer encounters are reminded to transmit all adult vaccinations, including influenza to the register.
The use of Cannabis Based Products (CBPs) has been approved by the Australian Department of Health and a number of products can now be prescribed as a Schedule 8 or Schedule 4 medicine in Western Australia. The HealthPathways team have now published a Medical Cannabis Pathway which details the important prescribing information for general practitioners.
To access HealthPathways please contact your WAPHA Primary Health Liaison or email the HealthPathways team for login details at healthpathways@wapha.org.au
NPS MedicineWise Clinical Service Specialists (CSS) travel throughout WA metro and regional areas to deliver free, evidence based continuing professional development (CPD) to general practices. However, regional practices don’t have to wait for an NPS CSS visit. NPS CPD can be delivered at any time via the internet as an interactive Skype Virtual Visit.
Virtual Visits give general practitioners more options to book NPS CPD at a date and time that suits them.
Virtual Visits are interactive discussions or topic content and as such, they qualify for RACGP and ACRRM accreditation, typically;
GPs and practice managers who would like to book an NPS Virtual Visit can book through the website or contact Nicole Humphry at WAPHA on (08) 6272 4921 or email nicole.humphry@wapha.org.au
The Health Consumers’ Council, supported by the WA Primary Health Alliance, is looking to support a community of practice for staff and consumer representatives across the whole WA health system – including primary, community and hospital services – to share information and examples of good practice in the area of consumer engagement.
More information about the community of practice is available on the Health Consumers’ Council website.
If you have any questions about this survey or the community of practice, please contact the Health Consumers’ Council at info@hconc.org.au
WAPHA has commissioned Ruah Community Services and Silver Chain Group to deliver a service with the intended outcome of improving the chronic disease management of marginalised population groups in the Perth metropolitan area.
Under this proposed model, a nurse practitioner works with clients of Ruah, Richmond Wellbeing and Silver Chain in partnership with a case worker where available. The nurse practitioner will undertake a comprehensive health assessment including investigation, screening, monitoring and evaluation of the client’s chronic disease, as well as developing an individualised plan using the principles of self-management.
The service is looking to work with general practitioners to transition patients into seeing a regular general practitioner. This will develop an integrated and collaborative model of care that is individualised for the client.
If you are interested in being involved in this exciting initiative, please contact Kher-Sing Tee, Regional Manager at WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) on telephone (08) 6278 7902 or email khersing.tee@wapha.com.org.au to discuss further.
The WA Cervical Cancer Prevention Program (WACCPP) is pleased to announce that a new round of scholarships is now available to nurses and midwives working in private and publicly funded sectors that are committed to delivering cervical screening services.
Scholarship funding will cover the cost (theory and clinical practicum components) of attendance at the Sexual Health Quarters (SHQ) Cervical Screening for Nurses course.
The theory component will be delivered on 18 – 21 June 2018 in Perth, with the clinical to be confirmed by SHQ at a later date.
Eligible applicants are encouraged to complete the scholarship application form. Applications close 4pm Friday 16 March 2018. For more information, please visit the scholarships webpage or email cervicalscreening@health.wa.gov.au
To change your practice’s preference for how to receive discharge summaries or to update any other details in the GP database (which is used by many sites), please email NaCS.RPH@health.wa.gov.au or phone (08) 9224 7066 with:
The Department of Health (WA) has been made aware of a series of complaints from patients who have been left with permanent and irreversible skin staining following extravasation during intravenous iron infusions. These events have occurred across a range of facilities within the public, private and primary care setting.
It is a timely reminder to ensure that sufficient information, including potential material risks, is provided to all patients to enable them to give informed consent. Notifying relevant staff of this issue and reviewing your appropriate organisational policies is encouraged.
Please contact the Department of Health’s Senior Policy Officer Georgina Low at (08) 9222 4370 for any queries about this issue or if there is any further information you require on this topic.
Cancer Council WA presents the annual Women’s Health Webinar Series for GPs and practice nurses to hear specialists present on issues affecting women’s health. The webinars are free to attend and you can tune in for one or all three sessions.
For more information and to register for a webinar, visit the links below. Registrations are essential; you will be provided with the webinar link upon registration.
The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine’s (ACRRM) first webinar on codeine rescheduling is now available online, free of charge for all members and non-members. The webinar, brought to you in partnership with the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA), CRANAplus, and the National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA), gives you expert advice on the impact codeine rescheduling could have on rural and remote health providers.
In this webinar recording, Dr James Finn, Addiction Medicine Specialist, and Dr Suyin Tan, Pain Medicine Specialist, provide their advice on how to best manage patients in rural and remote Australia. When watching the recording, you can view the chat box by selecting the pink chevron icon in the bottom right of the screen.
Roz Lindsay from Engaging Potential is presenting Living and Leading the Change Process. This session aims to introduce key concepts associated with overcoming people’s resistance to change. Through a mix of concepts, practical methods and discussions this workshop will explore the brain’s role in change, the barriers to implementing change and ways to address these barriers. This activity has 8 Category Two QI&CPD points attached. Date: Monday, 19 March 2018 Time: 4.00pm – 8.00pm Venue: WAPHA Offices: 2-5, 7 Tanunda Drive, Rivervale 6103 Cost: Free Register: To register, please visit the following website
A workshop presented by Merle Taylor on The Diabetic Care Plan and Diabetic Review. This is intended to be a fun learning event.
Date: Thursday, 22 March 2018 Time: 6.00pm – 8.00pm Venue: Our Lady of Fatima Parish Hall, 10 Foss St, Palmyra WA 6157 Cost: Gold coin donation Register: To register, please contact June at junea@westnet.com.au RSVP by Friday, 16 March 2018
Breaking down the barriers in the bush – mental healthcare for our rural communities is an opportunity for rural medical and health practitioners to hear from mental health leaders and advocates about the latest services and treatments, share their personal insights, and enhance their skills and abilities to successfully care for patients with mental health issues.
Date: Saturday, 24 March – Sunday, 25 March 2018 Venue: Hyatt Regency, 99 Adelaide Terrace, Perth WA 6000 Cost: Early bird for GPs and specialists $600, discounted prices for students and registrars Register: To register, please visit the following website
Immunisation Education Sessions be presented by Metropolitan Communicable Disease Control and WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) will cover influenza updates, antenatal vaccination, cold chain management, interpretation of AIR reports and a catch up scenario.
These will be interactive sessions with 30 minutes of open question time, so please bring along any tricky questions you might have.
Cost: Free – certificate of attendance will be provided Register: To register, please visit the following website
This seminar by Dr Magagna (Head of Psychotherapy Services at London, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children) will take a developmental focus to explore the growth of object-relations with particularly attention on defensive and destructive aspects of the psyche and their implications in clinical treatment.
Date: Friday, 4 May – Saturday, 5 May 2018 Time: 9.00am – 5.30pm (8.30am – Registration) Venue: Rottnest and Garden Rooms, Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle Cost: $550 Register: To register, please visit the following website
Is your practice looking for a health promotion activity for your practice? Each edition we provide a list of upcoming health promotion activities for the coming months along with resources and contact details. You can also view all health promotion activities for the year by visiting Practice Assist’s health calendar.
The March Charge is a fun personal fitness challenge that has an enormous impact on how cancer is researched and treated. Just by walking or running for the Cancer Council this March, and raising funds, you can help us Charge ahead with cancer research, prevention, advocacy and support services. You can choose to go solo or get your friends/family/colleagues together and do it as a team – it’s up to you! For more information and to register, please visit: https://www.themarchcharge.com.au/
This iconic event is one of Australia’s biggest fundraisers. It’s an annual event where family, friends, businesses and individuals come together to raise money by getting sponsored to be brave and shave their head. You can also show your support by colouring your hair, waxing and more. The money collected from sponsors will go towards research, which is needed to find better treatments and cures for leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and related blood disorders.
Take part and sign up today: https://worldsgreatestshave.com/take-part