Dec

01

2021

What to expect at next week’s Lismore, Casino & Kyogle Clinical Society

If you’re yet to register for next week’s Lismore, Casino & Kyogle Clinical Society, get registering!

This free-to-attend, face-to-face event is your chance to embed yourself in your local community of health professionals. More than 30 GPs, nurses, allied health, practice managers and reception staff and service coordinators have already registered.

Don’t miss out!

Lismore, Casino & Kyogle Clinical Society

Monday 6 December
6:00pm – 8:30pm
Invercauld House, Goonellabah

What’s included: canapes and a two-course dinner.

Speakers:

  • Joanne Cooper, Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Consultant
  • Dr Brian Witt, General Practitioner, The Lismore Clinic
  • Ingrid Hardy, Transitional Nurse Practitioner Palliative Care
Register for this event.
Download flyer

Rowena Terone is a Primary Health Coordinator for Healthy North Coast.

Rowena is the first point of contact for partner organisations and professionals who are wanting to improve health outcomes in the Lismore, Casino and Kyogle regions. She acknowledges the tremendous efforts and commitment of all primary health workers supporting our communities through the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘We are really excited to be able to come together in person after a challenging year for all,’ Rowena said.  

‘Fostering clinical connections is more important than ever. The Lismore, Casino & Kyogle Clinical Society event is the perfect forum to network and connect with your fellow local clinicians. We expect it to be a great night filled with knowledge-sharing, socialising and some end of year cheer. We welcome everyone working locally in primary healthcare. I’m looking forward to an educational presentation from Dr Brian Witt and Joanne Cooper and Ingrid Hardy, who will be explaining the various roles that support a person with a life-limiting illness.’

What to expect

The event will kick off at 6pm with networking and canapes, so we ask that you please arrive early to sign in.

All attendees must comply with the NSW Government order (effective 11 October 2021) stating that no unvaccinated person (over the age of 16) is allowed into hospitality premises. Please have confirmation of your vaccinated status handy on arrival.

Once signed in, we encourage you to mingle. This is a great way to get to know the faces of your referrals, introduce yourself and connect with your local clinical community. It’s been a while since we were all face-to-face!

Our first presentation will be delivered by Joanne Cooper and Ingrid Hardy from the Richmond Specialist Palliative Care Service. They will be joined by Dr Brian Witt, a general practitioner from the Lismore Clinic. Together they’ll be breaking down the role of the GP, Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner and the Specialist Palliative Care Team for patients with a life-limiting illness.

After dinner, the Healthy North Coast Education Team will talk you through the local CPD needs assessment, which identifies perceived training needs. This will be an opportunity for you to share any additional ideas around CPD education.

Next, Healthy North Coast will share with you the draft 2022 Healthy North Coast CPD calendar, focusing on the role of clinical societies. We’ll be talking to you about what we’ve identified as the most frequently asked for integrated care learning opportunities and then you can help us to flesh out what the first clinical society event might look like for 2022.

Throughout the evening there will be plenty of time for both group and open discussion and time is reserved after desert for further networking.

Register now and encourage your colleagues to come along too by sharing the flyer.

COVID-19 safety

Healthy North Coast takes it obligations for your safety seriously. We advise that the venue where the event is to be held is COVID-safe and that a COVID safety plan has been developed and registered with the NSW Government.

Numbers will be restricted, so reserve your place early. If you are sick or experiencing the mildest of symptoms, please do not attend.

In the event the clinical society dinner is cancelled, we will hold a shorter online experience and all those in attendance will receive a free gift.

Submit A Story

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands across our region, and pay our respect to Elders past, present and on their journey. We recognise these lands were never ceded and acknowledge the continuation of culture and connection to the land, sky and sea. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the Land’s first peoples and honour the rich diversity of the oldest living cultures.

Healthy North Coast is an independent, not-for-profit organisation proudly delivering the PHN program in North Coast NSW. We are committed to improving the health of our communities through quality primary health care.
The PHN program is an Australian Government Initiative.
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Aged Care Disaster Management Planning

Strategic Priority Area: One team

North Coast is identified as the region most likely to be impacted by climate change in Australia and also forecasted greatest growth in those 65+.

Healthy North Coast takes a lead role in ensuring the older population and the sector that supports them are prepared for, can respond to and recover from disasters and other emergencies.

We have led eight regional disaster management capacity building workshops, bringing together SES, community organisations and the aged care sector.

We have also developed disaster preparedness tip sheets for both residential and community aged care providers.

Read the media release: Aged Care Homes Prepare for Disasters

Voluntary Assisted Dying

Strategic Priority Area: One team

In May 2022, the NSW Parliament passed the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2022. Effective from Tuesday, 28 November 2023, eligible people have the choice to access voluntary assisted dying. 

Healthy North Coast has developed a webpage for both health professionals and consumers, with links to available information and resources.

Visit the Voluntary Assisted Dying webpage

Living with Dementia resources

Strategic Priority Area: No one is left behind

Healthy North Coast has worked with people living with dementia, their families and local service providers to develop an information booklet that will help them connect with local and national supports along their journey.

The booklet includes commonly asked questions for people to ask their GP and/or specialist.

The resource is available in digital and printed copies, with more than 5,000 distributed across the region. An e-version is available to clinicians via the Dementia and Cognitive Impairment HealthPathway.

View the Living with Dementia booklet (PDF)

Deteriorating Resident Triage Tool Pilot

Strategic Priority Area: One team

The Deteriorating Resident Response Tool (DRRT) has been developed to guide RN’s in Residential Aged Care homes (RACHs) to better understand, anticipate and make clinical decisions responding to the deteriorating health of residents.

The objective of the DRRT is to give RACH staff clear information to triage and provide appropriate care for a range of residents’ health conditions, and, in turn, prevent unnecessary presentations to ED.

The tool has been designed together with a specialist geriatrician, consulting with stakeholders such as Residential Aged Care Managers, NSW Ambulance, GPs, and experts from Mid and North Coast LHDs.

The pilot commences in March with four participating RACHs. Evaluation measures will include effectiveness in building RN confidence and reported reduction in unnecessary hospitalisations. Findings will inform a future planned, region-wide implementation.

View the deteriorating resident response tool

North Coast Care Finders Program

Strategic Priority Area: No one is left behind

The Care Finders program is a free region-wide service to support vulnerable older people who have no-one else to help them, to learn about, apply for and set up support services.

Care finders can help people understand what aged care services are available, set up an assessment, and find and choose services. They also help people with access to other supports in the community, both accessing services for the first time and changing or finding new services and supports.

On the North Coast, Healthy North Coast has commissioned four organisations to provide this important service: EACH, Carexcell, Lifetime Connect and Footprints.

Visit the commissioned services listings to find out more, including service contact information.
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Psychological services in residential aged care homes

Strategic Priority Area: Improving Lives Now

Healthy North Coast commissions two service providers to deliver psychological therapies and supports for older people with, or at risk of developing, a mental illness and who are living in residential aged care homes (RACHs).

The aim of the program is to both provide direct support to residents and their families and carers, as well as upskill the RACH workforce to respond to the needs of residents presenting with mental health concerns.

Visit the commissioned services listings to find out more, including service contact information.​

Social prescribing (Healthy Me Healthy Community)

Strategic Priority Area: Securing a Healthier Future

Delivered by Feros Care, the Healthy Me, Healthy Community program aims to build individual and community connections to reduce loneliness and improve wellbeing in Port Macquarie.

The program helps people to connect with community, activities, supports and services that address their broader social determinants of health, as an alternative or supplement to a clinical approach.

Visit the Healthy Me Healthy Community service page
Read the consumer story: Jim’s confidence boost brings a new lease on life
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Digital Health in Residential Aged Care

Strategic Priority Area: Improving Lives Now

Timely access to primary health care professionals, whether through face-to-face consultation or telehealth, is recognised as an issue for many Residential Aged Care Homes (RACHs), that in some cases can lead to potentially preventable hospitalisations. RACHs require adequate telehealth facilities to support access to virtual consultations for their residents.

Project goals

  • Assist participating RACHs to have appropriate telehealth facilities and equipment to enable their residents to virtually consult when needed with their primary health care professionals, specialists and other clinicians. 
  • Provide training to participating RACH staff to support them to have the capabilities to assist their residents in accessing virtual consultation services.
  • Encourage increased use of My Health Record by RACHs, to improve the availability and secure transfer of resident’s health care information between RACHs, primary care and acute care settings.
For more information, visit the Residential Aged Care Virtual Care Project webpage
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Greater Choice at Home Palliative Care Program

Strategic Priority Area: Improving Lives Now

Aims to provide people who have life limiting conditions the opportunity to exercise choice and receive high quality care at home, harnessing improved and better coordinated supports and services that meet their individual needs.

Program objectives:

  • Improve access to palliative care at home and support end-of-life care systems and services (in primary health care and community care)
  • To enable the right care at the right time and in the right place (to reduce unnecessary hospitalisation)
  • Generate and use data to support continuous improvement of services across sectors
  • Use available technologies to support flexible and responsive palliative care at home, including in the after-hours.

These objectives will contribute to achieving the following intended overarching outcomes of:

  • Improved capacity and responsiveness of services to meet local needs and priorities
  • Improved patient access to quality palliative care services in the home
  • Improved coordination of care for patients across health care providers and integration of palliative care services in their region.
Download the 2023 Palliative and End-of-life Care Needs Assessment (PDF)

Education & training funding elibility

Funding is open to all primary care providers within disaster affected communities across the Healthy North Coast footprint.

References

  1. Healthy North Coast Health Needs Assessment, 2022-2025
  2. Northern Rivers Vital Signs, 2023
  3. Northern Rivers Community Foundation Flood Impact Report, May 2023
  4. Centre for Evidence and Innovation, Participatory Grantmaking: Building the Evidence, May 2023
  5. Lee, G., Vine, K., Atkinson, A-R., Tong, M., Longman, J., Barratt, A., Bailie, R., Vardoulakis, S., Matthews, V., & Mizanur Rahman, K. (2023). Impacts of Climate Change on Health and Health Services in Northern New South Wales, Australia: A Rapid Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, 6285. 
  6. Sewell, T., Stephens, R., Dominey-Howes, D., Bruce, E., & Perkins-Kirkpatrick, S. (2016), Disaster declarations associated with bushfires, floods and storms in New South Wales, Australia between 2004 and 2014. Scientific Reports (6). 
  7. Dominey-Howes, D., Bruce, E., Stephens, R., Perkins-Kirkpatrick, S., & Sewell, T. (2016). Natural disasters are affecting some of Australia’s most disadvantaged communities. The Conversation. Natural disasters are affecting some of Australia’s most disadvantaged communities (theconversation.com).

Workforce Locum support and R&R funding criteria

  • Available to primary care services in disaster impacted communities within the Healthy North Coast footprint.
  • Available to support short-term workforce coverage, allowing clinicians to rest and recover.
  • Workforce-support funding in total is capped for each site, over a 12-month period:
    • $10k for GPs and/or
    • $5K for nursing and/or
    • $5k administration support and/or
    • $5K allied/pharmacy and other.
  • Funding is not to be used to fill gaps in staffing that have not been able to recruit to and not to replace existing staff.
  • Healthy North Coast will assess requirements and approve available funding directly with the service requesting support.
  • Priority will be given to sites that have immediate, short-term workforce support needs.
  • Requests will be reviewed and supported on a case-by-case basis.
  • Program funding administered via RCTI Agreement (Recipient Created Tax Invoice) to be paid monthly, or on completion of the placement (whichever comes first).
  • Practices will be required to complete a request for payment form monthly, or on completion of the placement (whichever occurs first).

Wellbeing Flexible Funding Criteria & Eligibility

  • Open to all primary care providers within disaster affected communities across the Healthy North Coast footprint.
  • Activity must be purposeful, with the aim of increasing the wellbeing of your team.
  • Requests will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, with funding allocated based on team size.*
  • Following approval by Healthy North Coast, funding will be administered via RCTI Agreement (Recipient Created Tax Invoice) upon providing proof of expenses.
  • Funding cannot be used for the purchase of alcohol, or any other goods or services where the vendor cannot quote their Australian Business Number.
  • Planned activities must occur prior to 30th June 2024.
  • Funding will not be available for retrospective activities.
*Team Size
(Total staff and contractors)		Funding Available
Small (1-5)$500-$1500
Medium (6-20)$1500-$4000
Large (>20)$4000-$5000