Pictured: Dr Kate Gupta
When access to medical specialists is limited, empowering local general practice is essential to meeting the needs of the community.
To this end, Healthy North Coast has just completed a six-month pilot of a specialist in-reach education program with great success.
Dr Kate Gupta, an endocrinologist, and Michelle Bushell, a diabetes educator, have recently engaged with practices across the Port Macquarie region to share their diabetes expertise with local GPs, practice nurses and managers to support the care of patients in the area.
The connecting of practices and specialists is managed by Healthy North Coast’s Primary Care Impact and Partnerships team.
The in-reach education model brings together GPs and their staff with specialists and the patient to deliver in-practice education that benefits outcomes for health professionals and patients alike.
Through Healthy North Coast’s support, GPs are learning how to manage their more complex diabetics better, patients get consultations with a specialist and their GP together, and the knowledge that is imparted is shared cross the whole practice to deliver diabetic champions in areas of limited services. – Dr Andy Williams, Medical Educator, Healthy North Coast.
How does the in-reach education model work?
The education is delivered using an in-reach model that has been implemented successfully in other regions across the country. A local medical specialist attends a general practice, along with supporting allied health staff or specialist nurses. The team provide a clinical education session for all the practice staff, then spend the afternoon with a single GP from the practice as they review patients requiring specialist input.
The patient gets the benefit of access to a specialist in their own general practice, while the doctor gets upskilled from the specialist in managing chronic and complex diseases.
The in-reach education model aims to:
- support the management and care of the most complex and chronic patients in general practice
- provide high quality specialist education to general practice clinicians and staff
- build connections between local doctors and specialists to foster collaboration and coordination
- utilise bulk billed Medicare items so there is no cost to the patient.
“My experience today was very informative and easy to understand. My questions were all answered in full and even more, so my mind was put as ease on the medications involved” – Patient feedback.
The endocrinology in-reach education sessions have received positive feedback from patients, general practitioners and practice managers alike. Attending clinicians have reported increased confidence in managing diabetes, diabetes medications and their ability to support their colleagues in managing patients with diabetes.
“This program is an example of Healthy North Coast’s dedication to our vision of healthier communities on the North Coast. We’re happy with the results so far, and confident that this program will continue to deliver high quality education to clinicians, reduce specialist wait times and address service fragmentation.
We are delighted at the enthusiasm from general practitioners and specialists to work together and their dedication to their patients.” – Luke Elias, Director Primary Care Impact and Partnerships, Healthy North Coast.
What happens next?
Due to the success of the pilot, Dr Gupta and Michelle will soon be visiting practices across the wider Hastings-Macleay region to further support the care of patients with diabetes across the mid-north coast.
Healthy North Coast is also working on the extension of the specialist in-reach education program, bringing more medical specialists into general practices across the whole region.
If you’re a specialist or a general practitioner, keep an eye on our upcoming practitioner newsletters for opportunities to participate in the program, or contact your local Primary Health Coordinator.
