North Coast 24/7 nurse triage service — local design meeting local needs

Following last month’s contract announcements, Healthy North Coast’s Primary Care Access Project has been working closely with service delivery partner Amplar Health (recently rebranded from Medibank Health Solutions) to progress the design of a local 24/7 nurse triage service for our region. Co-design workshops were held earlier in the year, which included local stakeholders, consumers, national

Performing spirometry safely: videos for health care professionals

Asthma Australia has developed a two-part video summarising the new guidelines on performing spirometry safely in primary care settings. It aims to support health professionals to perform spirometry confidently and safely in their practice in the current pandemic context. The short videos provide practical and guideline-based information presented by Dr Kerry Hancock GP and Richard

Facts, fever and endocarditis: Q fever update for primary care

Join Dr Penny Hutchinson and Dr Robert Horvath online as they explore the changing epidemiology of Q fever in Australia and review the diagnosis and management of chronic Q fever. This webinar will be held at 7pm on Wednesday, 7 September 2022 and will run for 90 minutes. The epidemiology of the zoonotic infection Coxiella

Broaden your horizons with Australian General Practice Training Program

Here’s your chance to start on a varied and rewarding career path as a GP. Applications for the 2023 Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) Program are open until 11:59‌pm AEST on Tuesday 30 August 2022. With GPs at the frontline of primary health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are more opportunities than ever for a rewarding

HealthPathways offers latest information on inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory Bowel Disease is a new pathway recently added to the HealthPathways suite of localised information for clinicians and other health professionals. It includes up-to-date information on recent changes to Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) prescribing for inflammatory bowel disease medications. ‘Some of the medications which are really effective for inflammatory bowel disease were not previously

‘The First 2000 Days’ webinar 6: nutrition and feeding

The First 2000 Days webinar series has been designed to build the capacity of health professionals and non-government organisation service providers who support families and young children in the first 2000 days of life. This session is scheduled for 17 August, 10:00am–11:30am. It will focus on child nutrition and the importance of forming short- and

Consider the ELDAC toolkit for palliative patients

There are many benefits to providing palliative care for your patients in primary care. These include better continuity of care, reduced need for travel, and an improved chance of patients being able to die at home. The End of Life Directions for Aged Care (ELDAC) specialist palliative care and advance care planning advisory service has

Westside Medical Centre tops 80% influenza vaccination rate for over 65s

The team at Westside Medical in Port Macquarie were concerned about the vulnerability of their high-risk patients to influenza this year. To increase vaccine uptake, they decided to apply the lessons learned from the past 18 months of vaccinating for SARS-CoV-2. These included: communicating vaccine availability providing information about vaccine safety and effectiveness, and addressing

Healthy North Coast webinar series explores a week of men’s health

Healthy North Coast is discussing men’s health over 5 days of informative lunchtime webinars this August. Join us over 5 days from 1:15pm – 1:55pm when 5 different speakers will talk 5 different health concerns for men. Click here to register for the series — you only need to register once and we’ll send you the links

HealthPathways a one-stop shop for MBS items

A new pathway – ‘Guide to MBS Items’, has been added to HealthPathways, capturing on one page frequently used Medicare Benefits Schedule item numbers for general practice, including those related to COVID-19. HealthPathways Clinical Editor, Dr Kate Allan, said the page was designed as a quick reference guide to the MBS. Its information applies Australia-wide,

Webinar on after hours care for general practice

Quality Practice Accreditation (QPA) is offering a client-only webinar on After Hours Care for General Practice. When your practice is closed you have a responsibility under the RACGP Standards for general practice, 5th edition to provide after hours care options for your patients. The webinar will explain the RACGP Standards requirements for areas of common

Let’s talk hypertension in primary care

Join Dr Austin May as he facilitates a conversation on hypertension management in the primary care setting. He will be with Dr Stephen Moore, Professor Neil Smart and Ingrid Sivertsen. Hypertension is a significant threat to population health. Globally, high blood pressure is directly linked to more than 8.5 million deaths every year.* Hypertension is