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Last month, I attended the National CEO/ Chair PHN meeting in Canberra where Emma McBride (Assistant Minister for Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and Rural Health), Brendan Murphy (Secretary for the Department of Health and Aged Care) and the assistant secretaries were all present.
The government was thankful for the hard work of PHNs nationally and the primary care delivered during the pandemic and confirmed its consideration that PHNs continue to help deliver commissioned services to gaps locally in the health care system. The Strengthening Medicare Taskforce was emphasised as the government’s vision for Australia’s primary care system for the future – if you haven’t read this document yet, I recommend it. It seems this will be their approach to reforming Medicare and primary care.
GCPHN will be committed to assisting primary care in this space as more details come to light in the May budget to enable general practice in this transition. GCPHN also re-iterated its commitment to Urgent Care Clinics, extending its expression of interest for this.
Primary Sense was noted nationally to be a fantastic data extraction/decision assist/ population health planning tool which was a lovely validation for the hard work GCPHN has put into this development. A gentle reminder to keep coding reasons for visits (for example, covid infection/influenza-like symptoms), as this gives us useful public health information!
I would also like to remind everyone that the Psychological Services Program (PSP) is changing and will be concluding June 30. No new referrals will be taken from 1 April 2023. Information about alternative mental health support is available by calling Head to Health and referring to the GCPHN Funded Services Summary. There is also a Head to Health phone service webinar on 18 April that will provide an overview of the service and an opportunity for local GPs and health professionals to ask questions about it.
Finally, I would like to remind everyone to stay safe on the roads this Easter and have a well-deserved break with friends and family this Easter!
Kind Regards,
Dr Lisa Beecham
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