Practice Support
Interactions on various types of practice support topics included:
750
instances of accreditation support
210
practice nurse support
Central and Eastern Sydney PHN supports primary health care providers and practices to deliver safe, high-quality services to consumers. The Practice Support and Development team works in partnership with practices to support continued quality improvement areas such as accreditation, workforce support, practice management, practice nurse support and encouraging the adoption of a person-centred-framework into general practice. All general practices can access targeted support to meet the needs of their individual practice. Support offered by the team is varied and sometimes complex.
The team has supported over 566 practices in the 2023-24 period with business-as-usual support, plus a variety of projects including: Strengthening Medicare – GP Grants program, MyMedicare, Greens Practice Checklist, Practice Nurse Strategy, Quality Improvement, Vax at Home and COVID-19 vaccination support and the Workforce Planning and Prioritisation program.
There are 380 (67%) general practices accredited against the RACGP 5th edition Standards. Support in accreditation is tailored to suit the practice and their experience. The team has supported practices with over 750 interactions related to accreditation over the past 12 months.
Quality improvement
The PHN continues to support practices on Quality Improvement (QI) initiatives, utilising the Central and Eastern Sydney PHN Practice Progress Reports and data extraction tools to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement. A new collaborative initiative across the Practice Support and Digital Health teams will see QI support increase to ensure practices build capacity, but also continue to meet the requirements for PIP QI.
The teams participate in the National Improvement Network Collaborative (NINCo), the objectives of which are to ensure there is a national approach to QI across all PHNs, build the capability of PHN staff in order to be able to support primary care in QI and collaborate and standardise support to primary care on the MyMedicare program. Two PHN staff members are currently participating in a QI Train the Trainer course offered through NINCo. This course will enable this staff to support PHN teams on QI learnings in order to enhance engagement and support in primary care.
Collaboration
The Practice Support and Development team often collaborate and work with other teams to support programs within the PHN. The team offers expertise in engagement and important linkage to primary care providers.
One example is the PHN’s work around Aboriginal health. The Practice Support and Development team attends and offers support to Cultural Awareness Training and then delivers the required ‘follow up’ visits based on reflection and resource needs of the GPs. This enables GPs to gain the required CPD points for the activity, but importantly it allows the practice to participate in the Indigenous Health Incentive (IHI) PIP. The team engaged and supported 22 GPs on ‘follow up’ visits post cultural awareness training. The team also continues to support practices registering and participating in the IHI and promoting the 715 Health Assessment to Aboriginal patients.
Other PHN programs supported by the team through engagement with general practices include promoting the Green Practice Checklist; GROW, DFV Assist, Cancer management and screening, Population Health and Mental Health programs.
Practice Support is represented on the St George Hospital Integrated Working Group which aims to support the development of improved communication between General Practices and St George and Sutherland Hospital clinicians. This group has promoted improvements in discharge summaries to GPs, increased linkages with nurses working in general practice and participation in HealthPathways. The establishment of a GP Grand Round Education Program has been a successful contribution. In the fostering of continued collaboration, a newly established Practice Nurse Education webinar series has commenced to upskill Practice Nurses and to enhance the ongoing connection between acute and primary care.
Practice Nurses in general practice
Nurses working in general practice play a pivotal role in delivering primary care and Central and Eastern Sydney PHN is committed to supporting and optimising this role. In 2023-24, the PHN embarked on a journey to develop its first Strategy for Nurses working in General Practice. The Strategy will acknowledge the important role of Practice Nurses within a general practice setting and the contribution they make to improving patient outcomes and supporting the primary health care system.
As part of the development of the strategy, Central and Eastern Sydney PHN has consulted with Practice Nurses, GPs and Practice Managers. The feedback will support important activities for the future in areas such as education and upskilling, scope of practice and better utilisation of nurses, leadership opportunities and workforce support.
Over the last 12 months, Central and Eastern Sydney PHN engaged with nurses working in general practice with over 210 interactions. This includes orientation sessions to Practice Nurses new to general practice, which support nurses transitioning to general practice from other areas of healthcare.
Central and Eastern Sydney PHN also offered and coordinated 25 placements for Practice Nurses in the Family Planning NSW Cervical Screening Comprehensive Skills Training.
Central and Eastern Sydney PHN’s first Annual Practice Nurse Forum was held in September 2023, with 31 nurses in attendance. Feedback from attendees was very positive with 82% of participants learning objectives being entirely met, and 91% agreeing that this event met expectations. 100% of attendees also agreed that they would recommend this activity to a colleague.
Strengthening Medicare General Practice Grants Program
The Australian Government has provided $220 million in grants, over two years from 2022-23 to support general practices and eligible Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations to expand patient access and support safe, and accessible, quality primary care.
Under the Strengthening Medicare General Practice Grants Program, a single, one-off grant of either $25,000, $35,000 or $50,000 (based on practice size and accreditation status) were made available to support innovation, training, equipment, and minor capital works on any of the three investment streams below:
- Enhancing digital health capability,
- Upgrading infection prevention and control arrangements,
- Maintaining or achieving accreditation.
An expression of interest was sent to all general practices within the Central and Eastern Sydney region in April 2023. 491 practices were approved for the grant.
The Practice Support team have been pivotal in supporting general practices applying for the grant funding and ongoing with enquiries on expenditure of the funds. Leading up to the close of the program, the team has been engaging and supporting practices to ensure the completion of the required financial and self-survey reports in the time allocated.
The overall feedback from general practices on the GP Grants program was positive. A streamlined application process, minimal administration and support from the PHN emerged as important factors, contributing to the program’s high acceptability among participating practices.
Vax at Home Program
The Vax at Home Program continues to support vulnerable people to access the COVID-19 vaccine and participate in the ongoing booster program. The program was originally developed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, to support those housebound people who could not leave their home to access a COVID-19 vaccination.
Over the last three years, the need to additionally support residents in residential aged care homes (RACH) was identified. Central and Eastern Sydney PHN liaised with GPs, their patients, aged care home staff and providers to ensure vulnerable people could access the COVID-19 vaccine.
In the last 12 months the team have been promoting COVID-19 vaccinations in the region and supporting RACHs with low vaccination rates and other at-risk groups to access vaccinations.
This has been achieved through a targeted call campaign by prioritising aged care homes with very low uptake. The next focus was to support sites with less than 25% vaccination uptake by arranging in reach COVID-19 vaccination clinics through the Vax at Home program to increase coverage.
The PHN has also been liaising closely with the Local Health Districts within the region by providing urgent support and assistance to facilities experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks. Coordinating clinics with a provider within a 24-48 hour period ensured many people were protected against serious illness.
From June 2023 to June 2024, the Vax at Home program has delivered:
683
COVID-19 vaccinations
3911
vaccinations to residents in aged care facilities
8688
residents have been vaccinated since the program commenced in 2021.
Workforce Planning and Prioritisation Program
GP Workforce Planning and Prioritisation (GP WPP) consortiums were established by the Department of Health and Aged Care (the Department), to provide advice and analysis on workforce need and training capacity across the country. This program provides robust, independent, evidence-based recommendations to inform the geographic distribution and placement of GP registrars to meet the community’s current and future GP workforce needs. This advice, provided to the Department, guides the two GP training colleges, RACGP and ACRRM, in their selection and placement allocation processes.
Central and Eastern Sydney PHN has participated in this project since commencement in the latter part of 2022. So far three reports have been submitted and the regional ‘snapshot’ of the PHN identified 13 GP Catchment areas. Areas such as identified health and population needs, social determinants, primary health services access, general practice workforce needs and training capacity were informed on. Methods used to gather information for the reports included consultations with GPs, GP Registrars, GP Supervisors and Practice Managers. Surveys were distributed to stakeholders for feedback and the PHN conducted its first GP Registrar and GP Supervisor Networking dinner this year which was well received.