News

It has been another exciting and busy year for us Nepean Blue Mountains PHN. A lot of what we do as a PHN is ‘behind the scenes’ and can easily go unrecognised.

Up to two-thirds of emergency room patients presenting at night and on weekends could have been treated at an after hours GP service, according to local data.

In an effort to reduce the burden on emergency departments, a new campaign is being launched to help people find what local after hours medical services are available.

The 6 December edition of Practice News, our fortnightly newsletter for general practice, is now available.

Did you know that 55% of computerised practices in our region are involved in data driven quality improvement? Would you like to be involved?

Our Practice Support Team works collaboratively with practices to facilitate data driven quality improvement initiatives. We provide free licenses for the PenCS Clinical Audit Tool (PenCAT) and support practices with ongoing training, data collection and personalised practice reports.

St John of God Raphael Services provide treatment and support for mums, dads and families experiencing anxiety, depression and other mental health issues from conception up until their child is four years old.

We have commissioned a new Chronic Airways Limitation Management (CALM) pulmonary rehabilitation program through Hawkesbury District Health Service.

The 22 November edition of Practice News, our fortnightly newsletter for general practice, is now available.

The 8 November edition of Practice News, our fortnightly newsletter for general practice, is now available. 

The 25 October edition of Practice News, our fortnightly newsletter for General Practice, is now available. 

Local GPs have told us that their capacity to support patients affected by substance abuse and addiction is limited. As a result, we are coordinating a major consultation project to learn how we can support GPs and community pharmacists with AOD treatment and patient support.

Our GP Advisory Committee (GPAC) is one mechanism for engaging with general practice and incorporating the views and feedback of GPs into our PHN activities. GPAC meets five times per year and GPAC in Focus highlights the main topics at these meetings.

HealthPathways is a free online health information portal for healthcare professionals in our region. Dr Hany Gayed talks about how HealthPathways helps him in every day practice.

We are continuing to work closely with the Local Health District (LHD) to help improve the number of patient Discharge Summaries being received by GPs. While the system to receive an electric Discharge Summary is a complex one, there are some things that GPs can do to help improve the likelihood of receiving them. One relates to the point of patient admission to hospital.

Do you regularly use HealthPathways? How is it valuable to you?

The ACWY meningococcal vaccine will be added to the National Immunisation Program (NIP) Schedule for adolescents from April 2019.