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May 2000 | |
CONTENTS
National Electronic Health Records
Congratulations
OTD Recruitment Program
Primary Care Partnerships
Accreditation
Relative Effectiveness of Population Health
The 12th National Health Promotion Conference
Health Inequalities - Reflecting Back, Stepping Forward
National Electronic Health Records
The National Electronic Health Records Taskforce was established
by the Australian Health Ministers to develop a national
framework for a possible system of electronic health records in
Australia. This has been erroneously reported in the media as a
proposal for a national, central database of patient records; the
taskforce's Issues Paper suggested a range of alternatives and
invited comment not only on the structure, but on the issues
underlying a national system.
Some division IT officers and GPDV staff attended a public
consultation meeting in April, and a draft response was
circulated by GPDV to divisions for feedback in mid-April and
discussed at a meeting of division IT advocates. The result of
this is GPDV's Policy Issues Paper 13 which includes some
information for divisions about the policy context (including the
AMA and RACGP positions on patient access to records and new
legislation that, if passed, will for the first time give
patients access to their general practice records), and
identifies some general practice and divisions' issues in the
proposal for the national electronic health record. The paper has
been sent to the taskforce as a formal response. Copies have been
sent to Victorian divisions and can be downloaded from the
internet at www.gpdv.com.au/policy/13ElectronicRecords.pdf or
ring Louise Willis (03 9341 5208).
CONGRATULATIONS – 2000 Awards for Innovation
and Excellence in Primary Health Care
Congratulations to Central Highlands and South Gippsland
Divisions of General Practice who have won awards for Innovation
and Excellence at the recent International Primary Health Care
2000 Conference. Central Highlands won the award for the Health
Promotion category with its Improving Mental Health and Suicide
Prevention Program and South Gippsland Division won the Rural
Health Category with its Connect South Gippsland Program.
Congratulations are also extended to East Gippsland Division, who
received an Honourable Mention in the Rural Health category for
its Doctors in Farm Health Program.
For more details contact Maryellen Haynes at South Gippsland on
(03) 5674 3105, Alison Bailey at Central Highlands on (03) 5428
4848 and Sue Smith at East Gippsland on (03) 5153.0383.
OTD Recruitment Program
The Victorian State Office of DH&AC, on 26/4/00 held a
meeting to provide an update on the Overseas Trained Doctors
Recruitment Program. Speakers at the meeting were:
* Kathy Wall, Acting Director, Health Workforce Unit, DH&AC
* Jonathan Wraith, Rural Workforce Unit, General Practice Branch,
DH&AC
* Peter Carver, Manager, Workforce Planning Branch, DHS
Key points from the discussion:
* In Victoria the Medical Practitioners’ Board authorises
the registration of doctors. DHS advises the Medical
Practitioner’s Board through the Clinical Practice Advisory
Committee (CPAC) on Areas of Need for the purpose of the
registration of OTDs.
* DH&AC issues the Provider Number, based on its assessment
of the District of Workforce Shortage. DH&AC’s
priorities for the OTD Recruitment Program are rural and remote
areas and towns with 1 or 2 GP practices.
* The District of Workforce Shortage classification is based on
HIC data, the SWPE and other information. As this is essentially
about the right to private practice, not to medical practice, the
HIC data is crucial.
* The difference between the criteria used by State and
Commonwealth for assessing need has slowed the implementation of
the program.
* DHS and DH&AC are at the point of agreeing to the list of
GP vacancies in Victoria that will qualify for this program. They
will all be RRAMAs 4 to 7. It is possible for the Commonwealth to
consider other areas, for instance the metropolitan fringe, but
the Commonwealth would have to receive very strong evidence to
support the need in the proposed area.
* There are other programs for normal rural recruitment and
retention, including the Rural Locum Relief Program.
* OTDs will be issued with Provider Numbers with the condition
that for ten years they can only work in a District of Workforce
Shortage. If the OTD achieves the FRACGP within five years the
restriction will be reduced from 10 years to 5, after which the
OTD will be able to practice as a GP anywhere in Victoria and
will be eligible for permanent residence in Australia
* There will be freedom for doctors approved under this program
to move within the District of Workforce Shortage for which their
Provider Number is valid. DH&AC will be using the HIC (with
special coding) and working with the States, the RWAs and the
divisions to ensure that doctors work within the approved areas.
* RWAV will discuss with the RACGP a program for assessing the
equivalence of qualifications to the FRACGP, as the OTD
Recruitment Program will put great demands on the RACGP.
Implementation of the OTD Recruitment Program
* DHS and DH&AC expect that the Victorian Program will be
formally agreed within the next week, enabling the program to
start officially in the near future. The 22 doctors already
recruited under this scheme and now working in Victoria will be
considered included. It will not be retrospective to other
doctors.
* At this stage, due to the delay in clarifying conditions for
the program since the vacancies in Victoria were first
advertised, it will probably be necessary to re-advertise the
vacant GP positions.
The list of eligible vacancies/towns agreed by DHS and DH&AC
will be dynamic, being continuously revised as situations change.
Primary Care Partnerships
The Minister for Health John Thwaites launched the
government’s Primary Care Partnership Strategy at the
Primary Health Care 2000 Conference. The strategy is outlined in
the document Primary Care Partnerships: Going Forward.
The main goals of the reform are to:
* Improve the experience and outcomes for people who use primary
care services
* Reduce the preventable use of hospital, medical and residential
services through a greater emphasis on health promotion programs
and by responding to the early signs of disease and/or
people’s need for support.
Each Primary Care Partnership will be developing and implementing
a Community Health Plan for their community which will involve
the following three elements;
* Service Planning
Will identify the population health needs of the comity and
propose strategies to address these needs.
* Service Coordination
Will describe how local systems and infrastructure, such as
information management, needs identification and referral will
enable services to be better coordinated so that outcomes are
improved for people using the primary care system.
* Service Partnerships
Will formally describe how providers and the community will work
together to implement the plan. Consumers and carers will be
focus of the reform. Services and programs will be delivered in
accordance with a quality framework, including a charter of
consumer and carer rights.
The ‘Going Forward: Primary Care Partnerships” document
can be accessed from the following DHS web address:
http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/acmh/ph/news/whatsnew.htm
New
Staff at GPDV
We welcome Sandra Walsh to our team. Sandra commences work with
GPDV on May 8 as the Primary Mental Health Care Development
Officer. Sandra’s background includes two and a half years
at Wagga Wagga Division of General Practice, part of which was
spent as the Program Manager - Mental Health/ Drug & Alcohol,
Aged Care.
The PMHC Development Officer role was established in all State
Based Organisations as a result of priorities identified in the
Second National Mental Health Plan. The position provides
statewide coordination and support of division activities in
Mental Health. The objectives of the position are to support
divisional programs to increase GPs skills and knowledge in
relation to mental health disorders and treatment, and to help
develop links and shared care arrangements between GPs and
specialist mental health services. Sandra can be contacted from 8
May on (03) 9341 5213 or s.walsh@gpdv.com.au
Accreditation
As at 26 April 62.36% of all practices have registered for AGPAL
Accreditation.
SA 80.54% WA 60.74%
TAS 77.70% NSW 47.64%
QLD 77.38% ACT 45.79%
VIC 75.31% NT 45.28%
Relative Effectiveness of
Population Health
Interventions in the General Practice Setting.
The Department of Health and Aged Care has recently commissioned
the Department of General Practice & Public Health at the
University of Melbourne, to conduct a project of the Relative
Effectiveness of Population Health Interventions in the General
Practice Setting.
This project will provide advice on what have been and what are
future options for population health activity in the General
Practice setting which are evidence-based and which lead to
quality health outcomes. We will be searching the literature and
collating information about current and unpublished work.
We would be most grateful if you could advise us of relevant
activities in your organisation/area. We are particularly
interested in interventions with an evaluation component, as our
mandate is to report on what strategies are successful from both
a process and outcome perspective. In seeking information on
recent activities, we will formally acknowledge the source of
such information within our report.
We look forward to your participation in this venture, which will
guide the development of population health activities in the
general practice setting.
If you would like to contribute to or would like further
information about this project please contact: Jane Sims :
j.sims@gpph.unimelb.edu.au or Lucio Naccarella:
l.naccarella@gpph.unimelb.edu.au
The 12th National Health Promotion
Conference
Vanessa - This can be summarised to upcoming events and/or our
Friday fax, if necessary
Preliminary Announcement
The 12th National Health Promotion Conference
29 October - 1 November 2000
Hotel Sofitel, Melbourne
Health Inequalities - Reflecting
Back, Stepping Forward
One of the most pressing challenges facing the promotion of
health at both the local and global level is the rapidly growing
inequality in health. Despite many of our successful outcomes and
more than 20 years of robust health promotion policy and
practice, the gaps between those who have benefited from these
activities and those who have not, are widening. The 12th
National Health Promotion Conference will tackle these issues and
the program committee has secured a group of outstanding leaders
in this field including Sir Donald Acheson, Professor Richard
Wilkinson and Dr Pamela Hartigan from WHO amongst many others.
Critical Dates
Registration Brochure (including Abstract information) available
now
Abstract Deadline 27 June 2000
Deadline for Early Registration 31 August 2000
Conference Secretariat
ICMS Pty Ltd 84 Queensbridge Street SOUTHBANK VIC 3006
If you would like more information on exhibiting, presenting,
sponsoring or registering, please either:
* Register your interest on the Conference website -
http://www.icms.com.au/health
* Fax 61-3-9682 0288 or,
* Email at health@icms.com.au