March 2004

Monday 29 March 2004

1. Result of the Rural and Regional Board Election
Bill announced that Julie Thompson has been elected as the rural and regional board member with 73% of the vote.

2. ADGP/SBO Coalition
The board received the report on the SBO/ADGP meeting in Hobart on 4-5 March. The major topics were:

  • Information Management/Information Technology: the meeting agreed to establish a Task Group made up of nominees from each State/Territory and ADGP to develop a costed future funding proposal for submission to the Commonwealth by the end of April. David Tillett will be the GPDV representative on that committee, with help from David Sandic.
  • Business Management Advisory Group: the meeting asked SBO members tell the next BMAG meeting that the Divisions Network needs more information about BMAG's activities, especially in light of the present lack of certainty about contracts and funding.
  • OTD recruitment: The meeting discussed DoHA's call for tenders and agreed that ADGP should collaborate with ARRWAG, the national organisation for Rural Workforce Agencies (RWAs), on behalf of the Divisions Network to develop a joint proposal for the provision of medical vacancy information to support the recruitment of OTDs.
  • Policy development: particular areas of policy priority included defining principles for the establishment of general practice clinics in hospital EDs and effective input to the development of the broader primary care policy framework.

3. OTDs and MedicarePlus
The board received Bill's update on OTDs and Medicare Plus. At the national meeting of SBOs with ADGP in Hobart the group discussed the invitation from DoHA to ADGP for the Divisions Network to play a role in the collection of medical vacancy information for the recruitment of OTDs as part of the MedicarePlus initiative. The meeting agreed that, rather than set-up a new and competing system in an area in which SBOs and ADGP have no systems, expertise or experience, we will propose a collaborative model between the Divisions Network and ARRWAG, the national organisation for Rural Workforce Agencies (RWAs), to provide medical vacancy information. Each SBO will work with its RWA at the state level. Queensland SBO has drafted a paper on behalf of all SBOs and ADGP for comment by the Divisions Network before submission to DoHA.

  • GPDV's position has been that GPDV does not think that SBOs have a role in the recruitment of OTDs. We have stated that in Victoria we will work with RWAV, which has systems in place for rural divisions that can readily be extended to be used by urban and provincial divisions in RRAMAs 1-3. Urban divisions supported this position during their quarterly teleconference on 16 March.

4. Clinical Risk Management
The board received a report from Nola on the CRM program. The divisions involved in the program have accepted that GPDV will take on a role in the coordination of the CRM program. GPDV has released a paper explaining GPDV's role, but also plan to give further information on the roll-out of the program. The board agreed that we will forward the proposal to DHS when all Chairs of the six lead divisions have agreed.

5. David Kelly's Departure
David took the opportunity to thank everyone, as he has enjoyed his time on the board. The board also congratulated David on his contribution to the board.