10 November 2022
WA Primary Health Alliance acknowledges and pays respect to the Traditional Owners and Elders of this country and recognises the significant importance of their cultural heritage, values and beliefs and how these contribute to the positive health and wellbeing of the whole community. Throughout this newsletter, the term 'Aboriginal' is used to refer to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, unless stated otherwise.
Primary Sense
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During November, WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) will commence installing the Primary Sense data tool for the first group of general practices that have completed the steps in the onboarding process. The first practice to start using Primary Sense in WA will be Lagoon Medical Centre, which was the first practice to sign the Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) as reported in the last edition of Practice Connect. Practices are excited to start using Primary Sense because the software can:
For further information about Primary Sense, visit the Primary Sense Tool Kit or contact the Practice Assist team by emailing practiceassist@wapha.org.au or calling 1800 2 ASSIST (1800 2 277 478).
Primary Sense is an easy-to-use clinical decision support, population health management and data extraction tool that helps GPs deliver the right care to patients at the right time. WAPHA invites Practice Principals, Practice Managers and Practice decision makers to this interactive breakfast for the opportunity to learn more about Primary Sense and how it could benefit your practice. Places are limited so book now!
View the flyer here Click to register
Feature Topic - Antibiotic Awareness, Disability Awareness & NDIS
NDIS provides funding to eligible people with disability to gain more time with family and friends, greater independence, access to new skills, jobs or volunteering in their community and an improved quality of life. NDIS connects persons with a disability to services in their community.
NDIS provides funding to eligible people with disability to gain more time with family and friends, greater independence, access to new skills, jobs or volunteering in their community and an improved quality of life. NDIS connects persons with a disability to services in their community. NDIS link for WA website. Link to Western Australia Partners in the Community PDF document, offering services in local government area. The National Contact Centre is open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm (local time).
Phone: 1800 800 100 Email: enquires@ndis.gov.au Visit HealthPathways for further assessment and request information on the NDIS.
International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) is held on 3 December 2022. IDPwD is a United Nations observed day aimed at increasing public awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disability. The theme for IDPwD 2022 is “Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world”. The theme covers innovation for disability inclusive development in employment, sport and reducing inequality. IDPwD is an opportunity to listen to the stories and experiences of people with disability and reflect on our attitudes and assumptions. This is an opportunity for all of us to make positive changes to lives of the 4.4 million Australians with disability. Remember: Disability is not always visible.
World Antimicrobial Awareness Week is a global campaign that is celebrated annually to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance and encourage best practice. The overarching slogan is Antimicrobials: handle with care and the theme for 2022 is Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together for the food, animal, agriculture and human health sectors.
COVID-19 Updates
Following the end of WA’s State of Emergency, individual healthcare facilities, including GP clinics, should adopt their own in-house policies and practices to protect against COVID-19. WA Health’s updated COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control guidelines for Western Australian Healthcare Facilities provides a useful guide that GPs and Practice Managers may wish to adapt for their own clinic needs, as appropriate. Further information is available in the latest Clinician alert. Practices requiring support with transition to business as usual are encouraged to contact Practice Assist, call 1800 2 ASSIST or email practiceassist@wapha.org.au. Keep up to date with the latest COVID-19 information for health professionals.
Testing –Joondalup COVID testing clinic will close 4pm Friday 11 November. Murdoch drive-through clinic and private providers remain open. Referrals are needed for PCR testing at private providers. Find a testing clinic at HealthyWA COVID-19 testing (healthywa.wa.gov.au). Where local testing clinics are no longer available, patients can be directed to private pathology or GP Respiratory clinics. Vaccination – The Kwinana and Mirrabooka public COVID-19 vaccination clinics closed on 6 November. COVID vaccination is available at participating GPs and pharmacies, and mobile pop-up clinics. Visit Vaccine Clinic Finder to find a clinic.
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A reminder that from Tuesday, 1 November, eligibility for COVID-19 oral treatments through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, has been widened so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, aged 30 years or over, will require only one risk factor (from the current list of risk factors) instead of two, to meet the definition of high risk. To support prompt treatment of patients as of 1 November 2022, medical practitioners and nurse practitioners will be able to add Lagevrio® and Paxlovid® to their Prescriber Bag supplies. A complete list of current Prescriber Bag medicines is available on the PBS website.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has released a series of posters on ATAGI recommended COVID-19 doses and vaccines for general, immunocompromised and special populations. It includes infographics outlining which vaccines and doses are recommended for each age and population group. Download a copy from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged care website here
COVID-19 vaccine decision-making tools are now available in five new languages: Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Greek. There are two decision aids available:
National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) has developed digital communications materials for use by medical practices, public health organisations or community service organisations who work with culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
These materials are available in the same languages as the COVID-19 vaccine decision-making tools, and are intended for use for:
Access them here
Immunisation & Cancer Screening Updates
Australia has led the world in cervical cancer prevention for the last 20 years and now, we are close to becoming the first country to eliminate it. National Cervical Cancer Awareness Week 7-13 November 2022 provides a strong platform to raise continued awareness of cervical cancer and unite Australians to take action to help Australia make cervical cancer history.
Everyone can play a role in helping make cervical cancer history. This includes: Women and people with a cervix aged 25-74
General Practice, Government and other organisations
Help amplify the key messages that promote best practice in cervical cancer prevention and ensure every Australian knows that we have the opportunity to make cervical cancer history.
For further information visit the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation website.
The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program aims to reduce deaths from bowel cancer, by detecting the early signs of the disease. Eligible Australians, 50 – 74 years of age, are sent a free, simple test that is done at home. The test can detect tiny amounts of blood in your poo that can be a sign of bowel cancer. Screening for bowel cancer is incredibly important, as the screening test can help find bowel cancer before you notice any symptoms. If found in the early stages, treatment is much more likely to be successful.
By being a ‘powel’ to bowel screening, you simply encourage your peers and patients to do the simple, free home bowel cancer screening test when they receive it in the mail. We know that many people avoid doing the test or aren’t aware how important it is. Having a friendly face, or someone they trust tell them, is often the best way to get them to do the potentially life-saving test. Not only will they participate in bowel cancer screening, but hopefully it will have a ripple effect on their wider network too. You don’t need to be an expert in bowel cancer screening, Cancer Council WA are here to help along the way! A social media post, newsletter article, or poster on the wall could reach someone who might otherwise not get tested. If you can encourage just one of your peers to take part in screening, you could save a life.
More information available here
Did you know that an Australian family loses a loved one to lung cancer every hour? Lung cancer is our nation’s biggest cancer killer, but in recent years, funding and awareness have increased survival rates and given hope to those living with lung cancer and their families. This Lung Cancer Awareness Month, you can help #ShineALight on lung cancer and support ground-breaking research. Together we can create a brighter future for Australians diagnosed with lung cancer. Visit lungfoundation.com.au/ShineALight for more information.
Immunisation coverage data is an important measure to determine the percentage of children, adolescents and adults who have received all age-appropriate vaccines recommended on the National Immunisation Program (NIP) schedule. The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) website includes the Immunisation coverage data sources resource which outlines available immunisation data sources which may help in identifying and planning immunisation activities and strategies. Keeping your practice and it’s patients up to date with AIR is an important data tool. The Practice Assist website has a Programs & National Schemes Tool Kit page with dedicated information on the Australian Immunisation Register, inclusive of how to navigate the site, upload encounters and overseas vaccinations. Learn more here.
Researchers at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) are conducting a study investigating the current utilisation of vaccine safety surveillance systems by immunisation providers across Australia. To help inform this study, you are invited to participate in a short telephone or videoconference interview to share your experiences – good, bad or non-existent – with vaccine safety surveillance systems in your daily practice. The findings from this study will help improve vaccine safety surveillance systems in Australia, ensuring they are fit-for-purpose for the needs of you and your patients in the future. Click here to register your interest Participants will be given a voucher for their time and interviews can be scheduled at a time that suits you to ensure there is no impact on your ability to see patients. Interviews will take place throughout October and November. For further information or if you have any questions about the study, please email NCIRS Senior Program Officer, Nicola Carter at Nicola.Carter@health.nsw.gov.au Expressions of interest close 30 November 2022.
Important Practice Updates
As part of the transition of the AGPT program, training support payments will be paid through a Services Australia payment system. The new support payments will commence from semester 1 2023. The new support payments will be available to accredited training practices, supervisors and registrars. For more information on how to do this and the back ground of the National Consistent Payment please see the attached information.
Presented by Martin Rocks - Assistant Secretary, Health Workforce Division, Australian Department of Health and Aged Care
Register here
Submit questions to Martin here
Martin Rocks - Assistant Secretary, Health Workforce DivisionAustralian Department of Health and Aged Care
To check if you have the required SHA-2 certificate or for further details on how to update your certificate, please click here.
If you would like further information please visit our Digital Health Tool Kit page on our website, or contact the Practice Assist team on 1800 2 ASSIST (1800 22 77 478).
Emerging Minds has recently launched Emerging Minds Families – a brand new range of resources for parents and families looking for information and support about infant and child mental health. The resources – including videos, factsheets, animations and podcasts – are free and have been developed in collaboration with families, practitioners and researchers. They are designed for practitioners to share and use with the parents and families they work with, or for parents and families to access directly. Topics include:
Visit the Emerging Minds website to access the resources and subscribe to the Emerging Minds Families newsletter for the latest updates and releases.
Given our vision of better health together, WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) is working with communities, primary health care providers and partners across the health system in Western Australia to ensure everyone has access to culturally competent and safe health services.
Through our strategic planning process, WAPHA identified the need for an organisational cultural competency framework for multicultural Western Australia.
The Framework will:
To help inform development of the Multicultural Cultural Competency Framework we would value your input via this short 3-question survey. Please ensure to submit your responses by Monday 19tDecember.
For more information, please contact Susan Kay, Senior Advisor – Strategy and Policy or visit our Cultural Competency and Capability Frameworks Customer Voice page.
A recording of the East Metro Health Service (EMHS) Virtual Forum on Improving Aboriginal Cultural Security during virtual appointments is now available on YouTube to view and share. Link to recording: EMHS Virtual Forum
Practice Assist Tool Kit
The Practice Assist website is home to resources developed to support general practice covering a range of topics including Aboriginal Health, Accreditation, Business Management and more.
Click through to find out what's new today!
Education & Events
You are invited to register to attend a free webinar on 'Is it Asthma or Inducible Laryngeal Obstruction?' Presented by Kate Baumwol, Senior Speech Pathologist, Voice & Airway Specialist, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH). Inducible Laryngeal Obstruction (ILO) also known as vocal cord dysfunction is often mistaken for asthma with similar symptoms, such as dyspnoea and cough. It is also common that ILO can coexist with asthma. Register for our webinar to learn more about ILO. This webinar will cover:
Hosted by the Heart Foundation in partnership with the World Heart Federation, this webinar will seek to explore the latest evidence on heart healthy eating patterns and strategies and tools to make translation and implementation of heart healthy eating patterns easier for your patients. Our expert panelists' discussion will translate the latest evidence, focus on practical ways to support nutrition intervention for heart health, and strategies to improve the primary prevention of CVD through improved dietary eating patterns. Discussion will include:
This webinar has been accredited by the RACGP for 2 CPD points. (Activity no. 377730). Education provider: Scius Healthcare Solutions.
Come and show your support and learn about the Rainbow Gate project- a project that will create a chatbot, resources and specially trained referral options for the Western Australian LGBTIQA+ communities who may be worried about the safety, equality and/or health of their relationships and seeking places to reach out for connection and support. Warmly welcoming LGBTIQA+ community members, anyone who works in family violence, health, mental health, health education, social services, as well as state and local government. More information available here
Following a sold out conference in 2021, the Aboriginal Health Conference 2022 will focus on healing from the past and strengthening the future. It will provide an opportunity to come together and learn from those who came before us, and reflect on how we can move through the challenges faced in the last two years. By learning from the past, we can strengthen our future. The overall conference theme will be Aboriginal Health, with the following streams:
For more information, including details of travel support available, please visit the conference website or contact the Events Team on 08 6389 4500 or ahc@ruralhealthwest.com.au
Calling all youth mental health clinicians and professionals! Join us for a full day, interactive Youth Mental Health Masterclass and hear from leading clinicians and researchers about the latest evidence, research, and best practice for working with young people with mental health concerns. Find out more and register here today
WA Ear and Hearing Health Forum Presented by Rural Health West 18 November
Advanced Training in Suicide Prevention - Online Workshop Presented by Black Dog Institute Multiple dates
Hepatitis B in Primary Care Presented by ASHM 24 November
Ear Wax Removal (Irrigation) Presented by The Benchmarque Group Pty Limited 29 November
Course in Ear Wax Removal (Microsuction) Presented by The Benchmarque Group Pty Limited 30 November