April 2000

CONTENTS

The General Practitioner Registry (GPR)
Divisions vote for HealthExchange
Achieving Star Boards
Enhanced Primary Care (EPC)
Education and Support Program
Issues for Divisions
GPs and Carers Project
Coming Events
Australian Standard Vaccine Schedule 2000: Comvax for Victoria
GP Workforce
Divisions Database for Updating ACIR data
ADGP Innovations Pool
Caroline Leaves GPDV

The General Practitioner Registry (GPR)
The software development phase for the GPR is almost complete and we have so far received GP membership contact data from 25 out of the 31 Victorian divisions of general practice. The data will be validated by GPDV prior to making it accessible to hospitals. The validation process will involve a FAX being sent to each GP concerned to ensure all contact details are correct.

The GPR metropolitan pilot will be conducted at The Alfred Hospital. The rural pilot is still being negotiated. It is anticipated that the GPR will be available for use by all hospitals by late May.

For further information please contact; Jenk Akyalcin at GPDV on Tel. (03) 9341 5217 or e-mail j.akyalcin@gpdv.com.au.

Papers and documents associated with the development of the GPR are archived at https://gpdv.com.au/integ/


Divisions vote for HealthExchange
GP Divisions Services Ltd announced that, at its Extraordinary General Meeting on 5 April, divisions and SBOs voted to transfer GPDS's internet access service, GPNetwork, to a commercial entity, HealthExchange. GPDS will remain a major shareholder in HealthExchange.

Dr George Cerchez, Chairman of GPDS, thanked members for their support and confidence in GPDS. He said that
HealthExchange will provide GPs with a state-of-the-art secure national network, driven by a new management team with extensive expertise in e-health, and will keep divisions central to the process of information exchange.


Achieving Star Boards
Seventy members of 21 different division boards and some CEOs attended “Achieving Star Boards”, the GPDV workshop on division governance held on Sat 18 March. John Mero presented a challenging workshop, during which participants were asked to rate their own and their board’s performance, the structure of their board and division processes. Discussion of the key points was lively, with John setting out the major issue for division boards: to decide on their vision for their division. Without a clear sense of why they exist, and what the benefits of their activities are, in John’s terms, boards will not add value to the work of the division.

Participants rated the workshop highly, and future topics to be covered in the work of GPDV over 1999-2001 include:

* Skills for chairs, deputy chairs and the chair-in-waiting and the role of the CEO in supporting the Chair (Sat 19 May)

* The role of the board in representing the division, and advocacy, negotiation and representation skills in doing this.

* The leadership role of the board regarding the changes in general practice and skills for leadership and decision-making.

* An annual workshop on orientation to the divisions program and the role of the board members (for new board members).

Participants also asked for workshops to cover financial issues, especially those for Treasurers, and risk management.

Enhanced Primary Care (EPC)
Co-ordinator Appointed

Rosemary Fenech began work with GPDV on 3 April as the EPC Education Program Co-ordinator. Rosemary has a background as a case manager and deputy manager of Inner West Linkages Program, and experience in adult education.

Rosemary will implement the EPC plan for Victoria developed by GPDV. This will entail assisting divisions to provide local education and support to GPs on the EPC initiatives; organising the briefing of GP experts as local trainers; working on the
development of education modules; and fostering linkages between divisions and all other stakeholders to ensure co-ordinated effort on the EPC initiatives.

Education and Support Program
The GPDV plan for the education and support of GPs in their use of the new EPC MBS items has been approved by the Department of Health & Aged Care. GPDV will receive the first funding allocation in the near future and allocations will then be able to be made to divisions which have signed agreements. Most divisions have notified us that they prefer Model A which trains a local GP and/or staff member to deliver education on the new MBS items.

The Divisions’ workshop on primary care integration held on 9 March was attended by representatives from 26 divisions. This workshop identified a number of supports needed by divisions for the EPC roll out. These included:

* negotiations about roles and suitable proformas for the Aboriginal population;

* discussion between the State and the Commonwealth Governments to ensure there is not duplication of effort in relation to service directory information services;

* documentation of initiatives being taken by divisions on the EPC so we can learn from each other;

* provision of information in different languages to increase consumers understanding of the MBS items.


Issues for Divisions
At the Victorian Divisions Forum held on 19 March 2000 participants broke into small groups to identify key
issues for divisions and GPDV in 2000. The recurring themes that arose in the different groups appear to be:

* current DHS and DH&AC initiatives: Primary Care Partnerships (PCP) and Enhanced Primary Care (EPC)
* structure of general practice, including how GPs will work with other providers and workforce issues
* population health
* IM/IT

For more detail contact Louise Willis on 9341 5208 or email l.willis@gpdv.com.au


GPs and Carers Project
The Commonwealth Department of Health & Aged Care has recently funded a one-off project through the National Respite for Carers Program to build on work undertaken in the DHS Northern Metropolitan Region aimed at improving collaboration between GPs and Carer Support Services. This is a six month project which will look at procedure and policy at both the general practice and the community services level to identify strengths and strategies for change including opportunities to develop collaborative approaches. The project will work closely with Divisions, regional Carer Respite Centres in Victoria and the Carers Association of Victoria.

The Project is based at CarerLinks North, the Carer Respite Centre in the northern metropolitan region. For further
information contact Meg Henderson Tel: 9471 1344 ext 249 or by email: meganh@mchs.org.au


Coming Events


Conferences:
Primary Care Conference, Melbourne
17 to 19-April
GPEP Conference, Hobart
4 & 5-May

GPDV Workshops:
GP/Hospital Integration, Fri-19-May
Skills for Division Chairs, Sat-20-May
GPDV Divisions Forum, Sun-21-May

Active Script – continuation of funding
Dr Nancy Huang, Program Director, reports that the program will continue to be funded by DHS in a modified form in the year 2000/2001. More details will be available shortly. Nancy may be contacted on nancy.huang@nwhcn.org.au.

Australian Standard Vaccine Schedule 2000: Comvax for Victoria
Victoria will fund pathway 2 of the new Australian Standard Vaccine Schedule, which includes the Hib-HepB combination vaccine, Comvax by CSL. Dr Rosemary Lester conveyed this news to the Victorian Divisions Immunisation Workshop held on March 29th. The new 2000-2002 schedule starts 1 May 2000 with the universal birth dose of monovalent Hepatitis B vaccine. The new combination vaccines will be given to these infants from July 1. Those born prior to 1 May will not receive the Hepatitis B birth dose nor receive a combination vaccine. These children will remain on the current 1998 Schedule (red) until it converges with the new (green) schedule on 1 January 2002.

The workshop was attended by 30 Victorian and 2 Tasmanian divisions and focussed on the new schedule, changes to the Handbook, including changed procedures, and changes to the ACIR. Divisions were informed that the updated, 7th Edition, Australian Immunisation Handbook will be mailed directly to GPs at the end of April. New ACIR forms are being produced and will be mailed directly to GPs in May. Divisions will be actively supporting members to adopt the new recommendations through a variety of professional development strategies.

Contact the Immunisation Coordinator at your division for further information.

GP Workforce
At the Forum held on 19 March participants discussed the issue of overseas trained doctors with Peter Carver from the Workforce section of the DHS. As a result of this discussion GPDV has established an email list on GP workforce issues in general. You are encouraged to contribute yours views on GP workforce issues before the end of April. At that time we will draft an Issues Paper on GP workforce based on the discussion at the Forum and through the email list.

To subscribe to this list please email Louise Willis on l.willis@gpdv.com.au

Divisions Database for Updating ACIR data
Whitehorse division has developed a database as part if a comprehensive process for checking, correcting and updating ACIR data, in conjunction with councils and member practices. To date, Whitehorse division has reduced by 22% the number of
children in the division’s catchment who are overdue for a routine vaccination. GPDV, with Inner Eastern Melbourne Division, has adapted the database and prepared a User Manual which will be distributed to all Victorian divisions.

ADGP Innovations Pool
Australian Divisions of General Practice (ADGP) has received 166 applications from divisions and State Based
Organisations around Australia. These applications are seeking $21.29 million. The funding available is $ 4 million. The Assessment Panel will meet on 27 and 28 April and make recommendations to the Minister of Health.

Applications by State/Territory:

Number Total Value
QLD 26 $5.56m
VIC 55 $5.41m
NSW 43 $4.98m
SA 15 $2.16m
WA 12 $1.28m
NT 10 $1.36m
ACT 2 $0.38m
TAS 3 $0.17m

Caroline Leaves GPDV
Caroline Morris finished her employment with GPDV at the end of March. Caroline will be moving to the country to build a house and so cannot continue full time work in Melbourne. We thank Caroline for her hard work during the short time she was with us and look forward to the housewarming. Interviews for a replacement are being held in the first week of April.