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As Western Australia continues to manage living with COVID in the community and general practices return to a form of business as usual, the next big challenge will be the upcoming winter season. Queensland and NSW have already experienced alarming numbers of influenza cases. In WA, with the potential for a high number of influenza and other respiratory pathogen cases in addition to COVID-19 cases, now is the time to review the different aspects of your practice’s preparedness. To help you prepare your practice, the Practice Assist team has developed a simple one-page Winter Strategy Practice Essentials Checklist which outlines the five key areas to consider with links to relevant resources. If you would like further information or support, visit the Practice Assist Winter Strategy webpage, email practiceassist@wapha.org.au or call 1800 2 ASSIST (1800 2 277 478).
WA Primary Health Alliance has developed a self-service campaign for general practices to inform, reassure, and encourage patients to keep their health on track. It is also intended to relieve some of the pressure GPs and practice staff are facing in a rapidly changing and challenging environment, where they are busier than ever. See your GP - Keep your health on track provides practices with communication tools to remind patients of the importance of looking after their health, and to understand why their care may be delivered a little differently at the moment, yet still safely and effectively. It is an excellent opportunity to promote the benefits of telehealth (where clinically appropriate), e-prescribing, and COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations. Practices can self-serve from the suite of materials, some of which are customisable, such as the patient information sheet and website text, with others being widely applicable, such as the suite of animated videos and social media tiles. The campaign was informed by members of the WA GP Advisory Panel run by WA Primary Health Alliance in partnership with RACGP WA and Rural Health West. You can download here and share the campaign materials on your own communication channels.
Find a range of videos and images below to share on social media with suggested messages, wording for your Practice website, a patient guide, an on-hold recording script, and more.
View the campaign videos here (or click image below)
Influenza (the flu) is a common, highly contagious virus that affects the respiratory system. Annual vaccination is the most important measure to prevent influenza and its complications. The influenza vaccine is recommended for all individuals aged 6 months and over. You can now administer influenza vaccination at the same time as the COVID-19 vaccination (co-administered on the same day) as advised by the Australian Technical Advisory Group (ATAGI). Studies show that co-administration of COVID-19 and influenza vaccines is safe and produces a good immune response. When providing co-administered vaccines, follow your usual billing procedure for each vaccination item in line with MBS guidelines WAPHA has developed a tool kit in preparation for the winter season. The Winter Strategy toolkit is designed to inform practice staff of the latest government announcements and programs. The toolkit also houses some great resources for winter season. See your GP – Keep your health on track campaign: Communication tools for practices. A new campaign for general practice to reassure and educate patients, about changes to the way primary health care is being delivered, and the importance of keeping their health on track.
Please see the above See your GP article for full details of package of resources to support your practice, your clinical staff, and your patients.
The PIP QI Incentive rewards practices for participating in continuous Quality Improvement activities in partnership and with the support of their local Primary Health Network. There are ten specified Quality Improvement measures (QIM) to assist practices meeting their requirements for PIP QI, three of which are listed below and directly related to immunisation against flu. 4. Proportion of patients aged 65 and over who were immunised against influenza. 5. Proportion of patients with diabetes who were immunised against influenza. 6. Proportion of patients with COPD who were immunised against influenza. General practices sharing unidentified patient data with WA Primary Health Alliance or their local PHN, have been provided access to the Pen CS suite of tools. Using Pen CS practices can access recipes to identify various cohorts of patients and patient groups to assist with their Quality Improvement activities.
Should you require any assistance, please contact Practice Assist 1800 2 ASSIST (277 478) or practiceassist@wapha.org.au and our friendly team will put you in touch with your QI Coach and Navigator who will be more than happy to support your practice.
Winter can be a difficult and frustrating season for people living with asthma, and it can be daunting to pinpoint what the triggers are. To help your patients figure out the triggers they’re likely to face this winter, and how they can best manage their asthma around them, Asthma Australia has created a winter hub.
The hub also includes some ‘asthma basics’ and information about triggers for both community members and health care professionals. There are also some tips and webinars for breathing better in cold weather and during exercise, and some information about the asthma cough.
You can visit the hub now or reach out to Asthma Australia for further information on 1800 ASTHMA. For clinical guidance, please visit our HealthPathways:
People aged 16 to 64 who have a medical condition that increases their risk of severe COVID-19 illness and people with disability with significant or complex health needs, will be recommended to receive a winter COVID-19 booster vaccination dose from 30 May 2022. On 25 March 2022, ATAGI recommended an additional winter booster dose (4th dose for most people) for the highest risk groups: people aged 65 years and above, residents of aged care or disability care facilities, people with severe immunocompromised and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50 years or above. ATAGI has reviewed this and now recommends that additional population groups should receive a winter booster dose, 4 months after their first booster dose, for people aged 16-64 years who have complex, chronic or severe conditions that are considered to increase their risk of severe illness from COVID-19 ATAGI recommended this change to ensure those who are at greater risk of developing severe disease receive the best possible protection. Read the Expanded ATAGI recommendations on Winter COVID-19 booster doses here
WA Primary Health Alliance has recently developed the ‘No Medicare- No Worries’ posters below to assist your practice in promoting free vaccination against COVID-19 for Medicare ineligible patients.
Funding is available from 4 April 2022 to support the vaccination of Medicare ineligible patients to the value of the equivalent MBS item number. To date, WA Primary Health Alliance has reimbursed over 20 practices for more than 1000 vaccinations of Medicare ineligible patients. Immunisation providers can request a 10A report from the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR), to identify Medicare ineligible patients who might be due or overdue for immunisations. To request a 10A report, you will need to login to PRODA and access your HPOS account. For more information, refer to Services Australia for detailed steps on accessing this report. If you would like further support with this important data-driven quality improvement (QI) activity or for further information about this funding, contact Practice Assist and one of WAPHA’s Practice QI Coaches or a member of the vaccination team will be in touch as soon as possible.
COVID-19 vaccines can be co-administered (given on the same day) with an influenza vaccination. The WA Department of Health is offering the co-administration of influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations at state-run vaccination clinics free of charge, for the following population groups:
The free influenza vaccine is only available at State-run vaccination clinics when it is co-administered with a COVID-19 vaccination. People not listed in the groups above are not eligible for a free Influenza vaccine while receiving a COVID-19 vaccination at the WA state-run vaccination clinics.
Presented by WA Primary Health Alliance with WA Cervical Cancer Prevention Program, Cancer Council WA & BreastScreen WA Join us for the return of our Cancer Screening Update for general practice staff. This presentation will cover:
The aim of cancer and risk marker screen screening in Primary care, including General Practice is to reduce the overall burden of the disease in the community related to incidence, morbidity, and mortality. Identifying an individual’s risk of developing cancer or early detection of cancer can lead to early intervention and delivery of treatment, this is known to greatly improve disease outcomes. Primary Care services, including General practices can improve cancer screening participation rates by engaging in Quality improvement (QI) activities such as:
For support on implementing Quality Improvement (QI) activities please contact Practice Assist and one of our QI coaches will be in touch with you.
From 1 July 2022, the National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP) will expand screening test options, offering self-collection as a choice to all people participating in cervical screening. The change means from 1 July 2022 all NCSP participants aged 25-74 years old will have the choice to screen using either a self-collected vaginal sample or a clinician collected sample from the cervix, accessed through a health professional in both cases. These changes mean that healthcare providers may start to see an increase in the volume of requests from patients to use self-collection as an option for their Cervical Screening Test. Information for Healthcare Providers on these upcoming changes to the NCSP can be found here Contact NCSPCommittees@health.gov.au with any questions, feedback or concerns. Importance of self-collection as an option for participants, particularly hard to reach groups
Health professionals continue to play a central and critical role in the National Cervical Screening Program in assessing patient risk and using clinical judgement to recommend testing and follow-up. They still need to offer a consultation for cervical screening whether it be a self-collected vaginal sample or clinician-collected cervical sample. Where self-collection is chosen, health professionals can use the time saved to discuss sexual health, post self-collection follow up and other health matters. They will need to explain to their patients how to collect a self-collected sample from the vagina and advise on the possible follow up requirements if HPV is detected using a self-collected sample. The National Cervical Screening Program remains committed to supporting health professionals to develop and maintain their cervical screening competencies. More information on the upcoming self-collection changes to the National Cervical Screening Program can be found here
From 1 July 2022, current eligibility criteria for access to self-collection under the National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP) self-collection policy will be removed. This change means that self-collection will be available to all women and people with a cervix under the NCSP and will no longer be restricted to under or never-screened women. Expanding the self-collection policy will give participants a choice in screening method – either self-collected or clinician collected – both of which are still accessed through a health professional. Healthcare providers such as GPs & practice nurses will continue to play a critical role in supporting patients with cervical screening. At this webinar, Gynaecologic Oncologist, Dr Emma Allanson will discuss the change to the self-collection guidelines, as well as the evidence to support such a change. Medical Scientist, Rossemarie Ramirez-Avalos will discuss the requirements for requesting and processing self-collected tests from pathology laboratories Presenters: Dr Emma Allanson, Consultant Gynaecologic Oncologist, King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women Rossemarie Ramirez-Avalos, Medical Scientist, PathWest Dr Kyria Laird, GP Clinical Editor, WA Primary Health Alliance register here
The WA Department of Health would like to provide a vaccine update: The WA Immunisation Schedule is updated and available now online. The updates to the current version dated 5 May 2022 are summarised below:
If the current schedule is not loading, please ensure to clear your browser cache. Please ensure that the new WA Immunisation Schedule is printed out for use in your practice and that the older version (blue in colour) is removed.
The state-funded influenza immunisation program has now been expanded to include vulnerable cohorts, not currently funded under the National Immunisation Program (NIP) including:
To order government-funded vaccines from the WA Department of Health, you must have a vaccine ordering account with the State’s vaccine distributor, Onelink Further information can be found at:
For any queries, please contact vaccineorders@health.wa.gov.au
The WA Department of Health would like to provide a vaccine ordering update: The following products are now available for ordering:
Thank you for your continued support for the Western Australian Immunisation Program.
The Immunisation Foundation of Australia (IFA) have recently launched their "Don't Forget Influenza" campaign targeting parents of kids aged 0-5. This campaign is now on Don't Forget Influenza — Immunisation Foundation of Australia (ifa.org.au) with resources such as videos and posters/flyers available to order via their website. Dr Jana Pitman, former Olympic athlete, doctor and mother of 6 is the face of this campaign
The impact of shingles (herpes zoster) and its complications can be severe and long-lasting. However, vaccination is a safe and effective way to protect against this disease in most people. Influenza and COVID-19 vaccination encounters over the coming months may offer an opportunity to discuss this important vaccine with those eligible. Watch the recording of the webinar to:
View the webinar here
Exciting news as the Department of Health’s Manage My Care App is now available state-wide, making it easier for your patients and their carers to take control of their outpatient journey. Imagine your patients seeing their upcoming appointments and referrals in one place and receiving real-time updates if there are any changes. That is the reality now for all public outpatients living in Western Australia who are using Manage My Care. When you talk to your patients about their outpatient referral, please ask them to download the Manage My Care App and set up their account during that conversation. Encouraging patients to use Manage My Care increases their ability to access real-time information and updates on their appointments and referrals and could potentially reduce the number of follow-up queries from patients about the status of their outpatient care. For more information visit healthywa.wa.gov.au/managemycare or contact managemycare@health.wa.gov.au Referrals can be sent safely and securely to the Central Referral Service at WA Health via HealthLink secure messaging. Referrals can be sent directly from most clinical software including Best Practice and Medical Director and, using the CRS. referral templates ensures they are received moments after being sent, without printing, faxing or posting. More information on the use of secure messaging can be found in the Digital Health Toolkit or by contacting Practice Assist on 1800 2 ASSIST (277 478) or practiceassist@wapha.org.au
The pandemic has both reinforced digital behaviours and altered the experience of care itself. Digital convenience not only drives trust and loyalty pre- and post-visit, but patients are increasingly looking for care that meets them where they are. Insync Health, in association with Press Ganey, are inviting General Practice's to join a national research project to assess and profile the primary care industry’s response to delivering compassionate, connected care to patients through the medium of telehealth. Participating practices will be provided with a short survey to share with their patients after a telehealth appointment, real-time access to results, and the ability to validate their performance compared to peer organisations across Australia. WA Primary Health Alliance recognises that this initiative aligns with Australian Government’s PHN priorities of service delivery, provider support, and system improvement. The outcome of this initiative further supports a key PHN objective of ‘improving coordination of care to ensure patients receive the right care in the right place at the right time by the right person’. In late May, you will receive further communications from Insync Health regarding the National Telehealth Patient Experience study with data collection taking place during June and July 2022. If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact Amanda Byers at Insync Health. For further information, or to register your practice, please view the flyer here from Insync.
Over the past number of weeks we have been releasing videos and ‘how to’ fact sheets full of information in regards to Digital Health. These resources are all available by visiting our Digital Health Toolkit webpage. Each fortnight we upload, videos, imagery and written information on all the important Digital Health tools. All you have to do is click here to choose what way you want to learn more. As this ‘how to’ series is new to WAPHA we would love to hear your feedback, especially on if you find the information useful and if so, what medium do you prefer it in. You can contact us with your feedback or any questions you may have via Practice Assist.
Today May 26 is National Sorry Day. Sorry Day acknowledges and raises awareness of the history and continued effect of the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from their families, communities and culture. Those who were forcibly removed are often referred to as the Stolen Generations. National Reconciliation Week occurs from May 27 to June 3, and celebrates and builds on the respectful relationships shared by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians. Further information about National Reconciliation Week this year is available on the Reconciliation Australia website. Both days are an opportunity for practices to reflect on the cultural understanding of staff, as well to reflect on the care of Aboriginal patients – and on further steps that can be taken to improve this care. The National Reconciliation Week 2022 theme, “Be Brave. Make Change.” is a challenge to all Australians— individuals, families, communities, organisations and government—to Be Brave and tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation so we can Make Change for the benefit of all Australians.
Monkeypox is a rare zoonotic viral infection that usually occurs in West and Central Africa, with occasional cases being exported to other regions. There has been fifteen confirmed, and 51 suspected, cases of monkeypox in Europe and North America. Two cases have been detected in Australia; one in Victoria and one in New South Wales. There have been no detections in WA. If you suspect monkeypox, clinicians are advised to immediately notify the Communicable Disease Control Directorate ( 9222 0255 or A/H: 9328 0553). Read the full Monkeypox Clinician Alert here
GPs often see the impact of alcohol and drug use on people’s wellbeing and are well placed to offer support. Dry July is a great way to provide an important example to patients along with an opportunity for everyone in the practice to assess their own relationship with alcohol. WACHS Director of Public Health Medicine: Dr Marisa Gilles is encouraging GPs to rise to the challenge and join her Dry Docs fundraising team, to help start those important conversations around safe drinking. “Every time I do Dry July I get a huge sense of achievement. My husband and friends provide support and everyone around me drinks less. When we are out for dinner, instead of ordering a bottle of wine, my husband orders a glass and together we drink sparkling water! “I get heaps more done in the evening, staying alert and productive, and wake up refreshed. The harder it is, the more important it is to take control and show yourself that alcohol is not essential to having a good time”. GPs interested in joining Dr Giles team can Visit dryjuly.com and search for the 'Dry Docs' team. There is also a range of promotional materials and resources to download and share through your practice channels.
Calling all Metro WA GP educators! Curtin Medical School is looking for interested GPs to take junior medical students for shadowing days. These are observational placements aimed at getting students ready for clinical hospital/GP attachments next year. These are ideal placements for busy GPs, or those interested in getting into Medical Education. For those involved in previous years - this Year 3 placement has been changed to better suit GP Practices. Students will only attend one day/week (Tuesday) for a full day. This will occur for 5 consecutive weeks. There will be three rotations of 5 weeks – as such this will run from July 19 start date to November 08 2022. Please see dates details below.
Please email or call Dr Bowron below to register your interest, or for a chat about further placement details. Dr Katherine Bowron Clinical Dean General Practice. Curtin Medical School Katherine.bowron@curtin.edu.au 0419923653
Unable to find the information you need about your patient’s care at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) in their My Health Record? General Practices can now email requests to RPH Health Information Management Services on rph.infocentre@health.wa.gov.au. For more information on request requirements, please see the “Patient information” tab on Contacts for GPs (health.wa.gov.au). RPH Health Information Management Services only deal with heath record requests from other health professionals/services. Please DO NOT send referrals or other queries to them, as this may delay care. Please direct patients enquiring about their medical records to Accessing Health Records.
You can also find inpatient discharge letters and outpatient specialist letters from RPH and other public and private hosptials on My Health Record. These documents can be viewed and saved into your patient's record directly from your clinical system. For support and guidance on accessing and saving documents from My Health Record, see the Digital Health Toolkit, the Australian Digital Health Agencie's support website or contact Practice Assist
The Toolkit provides useful fact sheets, user guides, checklists, business plans, posters and other resources covering all aspects of the day-to-day operations of successful general practices.
Practice Assist in conjunction with Pen CS is running a series of webinars developed to provide you with a refresher on how to use Pen CS. These webinars will support you to evaluate your data, identify areas of improvement that you can work on to improve patient outcomes and meet Quality Improvement requirements.
Regular review of your data will enable you to see opportunities for Quality Improvement which our team of Quality Improvements coaches can support your practice to implement.
Along with our Primary Care Solutions team we have a dedicated Pen CS expert who will guide us through the fundamentals of using your data, in creating positive patient outcomes.
These sessions have been designed to create a suite of resources that we can refer to and share in the future for new users of Pen CS and for those who have missed the previous sessions. If you would like a copy of previous webinars please contact Practice Assist on 1800 2 ASSIST (277 478)
Register for upcoming sessions below. These sessions run every Wednesday at 12:30pm
Presented by WA Primary Health Alliance and Metropolitan Communicable Disease Control (MCDC) Topics covered in this webinar included:
view the recording here
On Monday 23 May, Professor Kidd was joined by Professor Deborah Williamson and Dr James McMahon for a webinar on Monkeypox. A recording of the webinar is available here
Perth Children’s Hospital delivered in partnership with WA Primary Health Alliance. This was the first of a 3-part series in Common surgical problems in children. This session covered Umbilical swelling, Inguinal lumps and Haemangiomas.
Presentation will cover:
Recording available soon
The second of three topics being presented on behalf of Perth Children’s Hospital.
This webinar will provide updated & relevant information on how to identify and treat Undescended testicles, Scrotal Swellings and Foreskin problems.
This webinar will aid in the diagnosis and the appropriate management of these conditions. How HealthPathways can assist in the shorting of wait times to see a specialist in Perth Children’s Hospital.
REGISTER NOW
The last of the three topics being presented on behalf of Perth Children’s Hospital.
This webinar will provide updated & relevant information on how to identify and treat Abdomen acute, Chronic pain along with the surgical aspects of Constipation that present in children.
The Communicable Diseases and Immunisation Conference will be held in Sydney from Monday 20 to Wednesday 22 June 2022. In 2022 the Conference theme will be “Moving beyond the Pandemic”. The conference is of a Hybrid format, this means that you have the option of attending the conference in person in Sydney or online via the Virtual Event Portal. Face-to-face registrations also include access to the virtual conference portal. All delegates will have access to the virtual content for 3 months following the conference. Register here
When: Monday 22 August 2022 Where: A virtual event
with particular interest to health professionals, immunisation specialists, policy makers and anyone else working on the front line of public health. Register here
Meeting the Cancer Screening Needs of the LGBTQA+ Community (covers breast, bowel and cervical) Presented by Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer (ACPCC) 22 June
Advanced HIV Nursing Webinar – Pregnancy And Breastfeeding Presented by ASHM 23 June