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April 1999 | |
CONTENTS
Paul Hemming resigns as Chair
GPDV Board
GP Financing Agreement
Practice Incentives Program (PIP)
Practice Amalgamation
GPs and public health
Accreditation Update from AGPAL
GPs and Childcare Assistance/Centrelink
Victorian divisions maintain links with their communities
Measles Outbreak
Divisions Conferences
Future Dates
Immunisation Workshop
Paul Hemming resigns as Chair
Paul Hemming has resigned from the chair of GPDV because of illness. Paul has been Chair of the board since GPDV’s incorporation as the Victorian State-Based Organisation of divisions in February 1998, and was also an original member, and finally Chair, of the board of the previous unfunded GPDV. Paul will remain a member of the board.
GPDV’s Deputy Chair, Julie Thompson, said that the board received the news of Paul’s resignation from the chair with great regret but was very pleased that he was staying on the board so that his experience and knowledge would not be lost to GPDV. Many divisions have expressed their shock at Paul’s resignation from the chair and their hope that he will soon recover from his illness.
The names of the four board members to retire by rotation at GPDV’s 1999 Annual General Meeting were drawn by lot at the GPDV Forum on 21 March. They are:
Jill Grogan (Inner South East Melb)
John McEncroe (Inner East Melb)
Nola Maxfield (South Gippsland)
Mark Robinson (Nth East Vic)
GPDV board members are elected for two years, with four members (two metro and two non-metro) retiring by rotation at each AGM (in September) and being eligible for re-election. Because this is the first board elected the system of rotation has not yet taken effect, so that the board had to determine by lot which four members would retire at the 1999 AGM. The other board members, who will retire by rotation at the AGM in 2000, are:
Rosie Colahan (Central Bayside)
Paul Hemming (Ballarat)
John Meaney (Dandenong)
Julie Thompson (South Gippsland)
GP Financing Agreement
The General Practice Representative Group (GPRG) – comprising RACGP, AMA, ADGP, and RDAA - was presented with Minister Wooldridge’s draft General Practice Quality and Productivity Agreement on 19 March, with a request for agreement by 9 April. The GPRG wrote to Dr Wooldridge on 1 April 1999 raising a range of issues and sought a meeting with the Minister. This letter was circulated to all divisions.
The draft Agreement and the GPRG response have been circulated to all divisions for comment, but many are having difficulty coming to a consensus in the short time available, especially over the Easter Holiday and the start of the school holidays. The Minister has agreed to meet the GPRG to discuss their issues on 13 April at Parliament House in Canberra.
Keep in touch with your division to receive the latest update from ADGP
Practice Incentives Program (PIP)
The Practice Incentives Program (PIP) will be making a one-off transition payment to general practices approved for the PIP. The Minister would like to encourage GPs to use the transition payment to review and possibly update the information management systems in their practices. However GPs are free to use the income in any way agreed by the practice. The payment will be around $3000 per full-time equivalent GP. If a practice does not currently participate in the PIP, a GP can qualify for the additional payment if s/he applies and is accepted by the program by 30 April 1999. For Enquiries phone 1800 222 032.
All divisions have received information kits about practice amalgamation incentive grants, which are now available. The grants are a response to the recommendations of the General Practice Strategy Review and aim to foster increased efficiencies in general practice.
There are two levels of incentive available:
The Victorian Divisions Forum discussed the grants at the 21st March meeting. Opinions ranged from the view that it will cost GPs far more to amalgamate than they will be paid through the scheme, to the argument that amalgamation actually saves GPs money in the long term and gives practices benefits in terms of workforce issues (sharing locums, etc).
Some representatives believed the agenda for the amalgamations was clear and did not need further clarification. Others argued that the assumption underlying the incentives is that amalgamation is a good thing, although there is no hard evidence for this assumption, and that in the absence of such evidence, GPs may be unwilling to embark on amalgamations. There was a range of opinions about what the agenda might be, and whether it was related to better patient care and efficiency or potential savings to government through reducing prescriptions, investigations etc.
It seems, from this range of opinion, that DH&AC’s major objectives in encouraging amalgamations are not completely clear to divisions and GPs, as GPDV board has argued elsewhere. The question of an appropriate division role in amalgamation was not discussed. GPDV board will be taking the breadth of opinion from divisional representatives into account when it further considers its role regarding amalgamations. To obtain an information kit, or to discuss the grants, contact:
Ms Robyn Dowling,
Program Administrator, GP Links: General Practice Amalgamations Incentives Program
State Office of DH&AC
GPO Box 9848
Melb 3001
Tel 9285 8819; fax 9285 8237.
GPs and public health
Dr Michael Bollen has been engaged by the GP Branch of DH&AC to help progress some of the recommendations of the GP Strategy Review Report about improving and increasing the role of GPs in public health.
Dr Bollen will be consulting with the profession through the key organisations and with other stakeholders and is keen to receive ideas and views from the field. He will also be co-presenting on GPs and public health with Catherine James (Public Health & Health Promotion SERU) at the GPEP Workshop in Brisbane in May.
We will keep divisions informed.
Accreditation Update from AGPAL
1688 practices (28% nationally) have registered for survey and AGPAL is now allocating its 227 trained surveyors to practices ready for their visit. 93 visits have been completed, of which 25 have received Full Accreditation, 11 Conditional and 57 are in the review process. Feedback from practices that have undergone their survey visit have been excellent, with reports indicating they have found the experience educative and positive. 5 practices in Victoria have received full accreditation.
An update of activities being undertaken by Divisions in each State has been sent out to all Divisions. There has already been considerable cross fertilisation of ideas. AGPAL has joined ADGP in an application to DH&AC for a grant of $250,000 to assist Divisions who are active in supporting their members work towards accreditation. For more information see the AGPAL website at www.agpal.com.au
GPs and Childcare Assistance/Centrelink
As of January 1999 the immunisation status of children under 7 years of age is linked to the payment of Commonwealth Childcare Assistance. Centrelink has directed many parents to request immunisation history forms (or exemptions) from immunisation providers. GPDV wishes to compile GPs experiences of how the system is working at the practice level. Divisions and GPs are invited to call Sonya Tremellen on (03) 9341 5205.
Victorian divisions maintain links with their communities
The results of an audit by Victorian divisions of their interface with the communities in which they work have now been distributed. The audit showed that divisions use a wide variety of strategies to engage with their communities and to contribute to health planning and service provision by other stakeholders. Many structures have remained in place during the transitional funding period which enable consumers and other key stakeholders to contribute to the development and implementation of divisional programs.
The audit appears to contradict perceptions reported to the Victorian Advisory Committee on General Practice (VACGP) in late 1998 that the divisions’ interaction with consumers has decreased.
For a copy of the audit results, contact your Division.
The current measles outbreak continues to increase, with the DHS reporting 62 confirmed cases as at April 8th 1999. GPs are urged to offer funded MMR to individuals in the 18 - 30 year age group who have not had at least one documented dose of measles containing vaccine in the past.
ADGP will hold a National Divisions Forum in Melbourne on 26/27 August. GPDV board has decided to hold a Victorian Divisions Conference in November, to develop further the issues from the national forum. GPDV hopes that these will become annual events so that a cycle of national and state forums will develop to ensure that divisions are able to drive the Program’s agenda.
15 April: The Future of Primary Health and Community Support Services Forum
23 April: Applications for Innovations Grants due in at DH&AC
30 April: Mental Health
Network
Meeting on Divisions’ role and issues regarding the PHACS
initiative. Contact Lenora Lippmann, GPDV
14 or 15 May: Network
Meeting for IT people in Divisions
Contact Laurie Barrand, Central West Gippsland Divisions, Phone
5126 2899
6 & 7 May: GPEP: Pathways to Quality in General Practice Conference, Brisbane
27-30 May: Rural Workforce Agency of Victoria Conference, Ballarat
Three were 24 Victorian and 2 Tasmanian divisions represented at the GPDV Immunisation Workshop on March 31 to discuss practice-based systems for patient follow-up. As Dr Peter Eizenberg (North East Valley Div; GPII Advisory Group) reminded the audience, while parents and patients expect the doctor to tell them what is due, the doctor expects the same of the parent or patient. Therefore, the need is for a systems approach that supports both the GP and the patient. Discussion and information sharing was lively, focusing on various approaches, and what divisions can do to assist practices. Workshop notes will be sent to all divisions shortly.