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Issue 4, 2 April 2009 |
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IN THIS ISSUE: Alerts | Program Updates | Activities and Forums | Items of Interest
From the CEO - Gretchen Scinta
It’s that time of year again and we are beginning to organise contracts for 2009/2010. At this stage, we have received confirmation that the Quality Use of Medicines, Immunisation and Health Provider Registry programs will be continuing. We still await advice about e-Health and the configuration of the new agreement for Nursing in General Practice.
GPSA will also be providing ongoing funding of the Pen CAT for the new financial year. Pen CAT presents a significant opportunity for Divisions to impact on health service planning and policy. We will be focusing on the development of key strategies to support Divisions in promoting the uptake and usage of the tool in the coming months.
The General Practice Network Leadership Group meets again at the end of the month in Canberra. We will be seeking input to bring to the forum over the next few weeks and will be providing information about the agenda in the next e-news issue.
Alerts
QUM: Prescribing Data in General Practice Demonstration project. Australian General Practice Network and National Prescribing Service are calling for Expressions of Interest from Divisions of General Practice across Australia to participate in the Prescribing Data in General Practice Demonstration project (PDGPD). This project is a quality improvement activity for GPs focused on two clinical areas: management of hypertension and chronic heart failure (CHF). For more information click here.
Mental Health Shared Care with General Practice – click here to view updates, including new sections on Documentation, Outcomes, Resources and Links, Training and Opportunities.
GP Obstetric Shared Care (SA) - click here for updated news page, including the latest GP OSC (SA) contact list, CPD events in April, updated SA Perinatal Practice Guidelines from the Department of Health, and information on a new set of standards for transfusion request forms and sample labelling from SA Pathology.
GPSA Scheduled Activities and Forums
AGPN General Practice Network Leadership Group Face-to-Face meeting in Canberra – 30 April to 1 May 2009
GPSA Board meeting – 7 May 2009
Rural Divisions Group – 8 May 2009
GP Forum – 15 May 2009
GPSA Quarterly Meetings: Dept Health and Ageing; SA Health; Country Health SA; Minister Lomax-Smith – 21 May 2009
Items of Interest
Statewide Services Strategy Division, SA Health, will be presenting a free Chronic Disease Self Management Forum on 6 May 2009, at The Grand Chifley Hotel on South Terrace, Adelaide. Rural Divisions of General Practice can receive some travel assistance to attend the Forum – contact Cathy Zesers at GPSA for details. For information on the Forum, click here for Agenda and Registration Form.
Health Provider Registry – Annual Validation of Allied Health entries. The HPRy team is currently checking all Allied Health provider details on the registry and inviting Allied Health providers to provide more information in the new Service Directory area to guide more appropriate referrals from GPs – for information click here.
Clarification – Launch of Patient Health Diary at the Limestone Coast Division of General Practice on 3 March 2009, as featured in GPSA News, Issue 2. GPSA wishes to clarify that this was not a GPSA and Limestone Coast Division Project, but a collaboration/ partnership between the Limestone Coast Division and other stakeholders. The Health Diary was supported financially by the SA Government, Country Health SA and sanofi-aventis, and came to fruition as a result of collaboration between local GPs, Practice Managers, Practice Nurses, local community members, Hospital Emergency Departments, South Australian Ambulance Service and Division staff. GPSA was honoured to have been invited to attend the launch of the Health Diary at the Limestone Coast Division of General Practice and congratulates the Division on its achievement.
