Divisions are no longer funded for providing IT support to GPs, while there are increasing incentives for GPs to better manage patient information using computers. Some divisions find themselves struggling to provide financially unsustainable IT support to GPs who do little more with their computers than print prescriptions and manage accounts. How can divisions help GPs improve both health and business outcomes using information management?

The Forum aims to establish what type of support is appropriate for divisions to provide, and how to go about providing it. It will provide Victorian Divisions with an overview of IM, as opposed to IT, and its application in general practice. The speakers will address the state of IM support provided by Victorian divisions, an Action Plan for Information Management in General Practice, and the model of IM support provided by one division.

Speakers:

The group work will focus on engaging GPs, deciding which are the most appropriate IM support activities your division can provide and how to make the change from supporting IT to supporting IM.

Natasha, who has worked with us for the last 12 months as Workshops Administrator will join a 3 month Raleigh International expedition to Ghana to work on challenging environmental and community projects in remote communities. Following an intense selection program, Natasha was one of ten successful finalists in an Australian/New Zealand competition conducted by Colorado Adventure Wear and the UK-based Raleigh International.

As a prize winner, Natasha will be leaving for Ghana in early October and is resigning from GPDV.

We offer her our congratulations and know she will be a wonderful Australian ambassador on the expedition.

A new administrative staff member, Lindy Hodgkin has recently joined GPDV. Lindy will provide support to staff working on the implementation of the Chronic Disease Management program.

Sherbrooke & Pakenham Division and Yarra Valley Division have resolved to amalgamate to become the Eastern Ranges GP Association from 1 July 2002. The legal formalities will take a little longer.

Having been encouraged by Andrew Tongue at the last ADGP National Forum for capacity building and rationalisation, the process was accelerated, with additional support provided by GPDV and DoHA. The amalgamation allows significant economies of scale and increased capacity to deliver services to their GP membership and the community, and takes their divisional ranking from 29^th (YVDGP) and 31^st (SPDGP) to around 12^th.

Dr John Lockwood was elected Chair and Dr Rosalie Cooper Deputy Chair of the new division. Geoff Rowe has accepted the position of Acting CEO. Being based at the original Yarra Valley Division offices, their interim contact
number is (03) 9739 6751.

We wish them every success.

Presented by Monash University & GPDV with RACGP & RANZCP

23 & 24^th August 2002

Victorian University Conference Centre,

300 Flinders Street, Melbourne

Keynote Speaker: Prof. Andre Tylee, Professor of Primary Care Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, London.

Programs & registration forms are available through divisions.

Rural Victoria is currently in the middle of the implementation phase of the National Q Fever Program. Divisions have facilitated the training of 150 GPs thus far with a further 40 to be trained in early August.

Since the training, Divisions have either organised mass clinics themselves or assisted GPs to organise mass clinics both in practices and at venues such as pubs. Thirty-seven clinics have been organised or conducted at the time of printing with more in the pipeline. Otway Division have organised 19 of their practices to hold mass Q fever immunisation sessions in their practices � an amazing effort which demonstrates the power of divisions when you combine local knowledge with a trusting relationship between GPs and their divisions. We will keep you up to date with further success stories as we collate them.

Shane Thomas and Associates have completed a report for GPDV entitled "Residential Aged Care Facilities Enhanced Primary Care MBS Items". This research was to determine the needs and issues for the residential care sector and GPs in taking up the new EPC items and to advise on strategies needed to address them.

The main findings were:

1. more than half the residential care facilities interviewed knew nothing about the new items;
2. uptake was very variable with GPs from one division accounting for a quarter of Victoria�s uptake of the residential care EPC items,
3. many residential care facilities had minimal relationships with the GPs providing medical services to their residents because of the pressures on them and the large number of GPs coming into any one facility.

The recommendations are that

• Residential Care facilities need education about the items and their benefits
• Divisions could be provided with an engagement toolkit based on the successful approach used by North East Valley Division,
• There is a need for wider consideration of how GP services are to be delivered in Residential Care Facilities.

For a copy of the report contact Rosemary Fenech at (03) 9341 5220.

Although there appears to have been some disagreement recently between the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner and the Victorian Health Services Commissioner about whether state or commonwealth legislation takes precedence, it seems that divisions of general practice and GPs are required to comply with the national privacy legislation (which covers the private sector and relates to all personal information, including health information) and also with provisions of the Victorian Health Records Act (which applies to health information in the public and private sectors).

The AMA and RACGP have developed resources to assist practices comply with the national legislation. ADGP has developed resources to assist divisions and recently distributed revised versions of its resources, including a privacy policy template for divisions to use as a guide. These resources are on GPDV's website at www.gpdv.com.au/privacy/

You can also view copies of the presentations given at GPDV's privacy forum for divisions late last year, including those from the Office of the Health Services Commissioner, the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner and North West Melbourne Division, who developed guidelines for managing personal information.

The Victorian Metropolitan Alliance (VMA) moved into new premises on 29 July.

Suite 5, 209 Victoria Parade

Fitzroy 3065

Tel: (03) 9419 3033

Fax: (03) 9419 1866

On the 3 July, GPDV hosted a meeting of Victorian stakeholders in diabetes and asthma, with assistance from DoHA and DHS.

The aim was to gather together the DoHA and DHS staff involved in diabetes and asthma initiatives, along with representatives from other organisations including Diabetes Victoria, Asthma Victoria, Council on the Ageing, Centre for Ethnicity and Health, Lung Health Promotion Foundation, Asthma Educators Association, Diabetes Educators Association, International Diabetes Institute, Chronic Illness Alliance and many more.

With over 50 participants, the discussion was robust but very collaborative. The exciting outcomes from the day were the beginning of an extensive mapping exercise of all the projects and programs currently running in Victoria and development of a list of priority actions for Victoria for better coordination of chronic disease activity.

GPDV will be meeting with DoHA and DHS in the very near future to plan the next steps and will keep stakeholders updated. Further information on the mapping exercise and what the priority actions are can be obtained from Belinda Caldwell on (03) 9341 5212 or
b.caldwell@gpdv.com.au

17 Aug Star Boards Workshop

18 Aug GPDV Forum

23 & 24 Aug Building Capacities in Primary Care Mental Health Conference

28 - 30 Aug HIC/ADGP IM, Business Improvement Program & PKI Workshops

6 Sept PHC RED Introduction to Statistics (Shepparton, Vic)

12 Sept Rural CEO Network meeting

12 Sept Train the Trainer on Continence Education

13 Sept Mental Health Network

13 Sept Victorian CEO Network meeting