Disaster Preparedness

Cyclone preparedness: key actions for general practices

Gold Coast Primary Health Network (GCPHN) strongly encourages your practice to take proactive steps to prepare for potential disruptions and to refer to your current emergency management plan.

Key preparedness actions to consider

Protecting your vaccine storage management and cold chain:

• Ensure vaccine refrigerators are connected to backup power.
• Nominate a staff member to be responsible in the event of a power outage after business hours.
• Check temperature monitoring systems and have a current Vaccine Management Protocol (VMP) in place.
• Ensure sufficient power outage equipment (adequate number of coolers, ice/gel packs, insulating material (e.g. bubble wrap)  and a battery-operated minimum / maximum thermometer or portable data logger.
• Consider relocating vaccines if prolonged power loss is expected. Never transport vaccines to another refrigerator, cooler or facility without a min/max temperature monitoring device or data logger
• Consider buddying-up with another practice for temporary refrigeration and facility sharing if needed.
• If no suitable alternative monitored storage option, isolate the vaccines and leave them in the refrigerator with the door closed for the duration of the power outage. Do not use or discard vaccines until you have received advice from the Gold Coast Public Health Unit.

Report cold chain breaches immediately via QHIP-ADMIN@health.qld.gov.au using the Cold Chain Breach Report Form.

Business continuity and patient care:

• Secure critical medical records and ensure access to emergency contacts.
• Keep at least one fully charged laptop with up-to-date practice and patient information, ensuring daily backups.
• For practices with off-site backups, ensure accessibility in case on-site computers are damaged.
• Plan for medication supply disruptions and ensure patients can access essential care.

Facilities and equipment:

• Assess risks of flooding, structural damage and power outages.
• Verify emergency equipment is functional and easily accessible.

Finance and insurance:

• Review business, contents and building insurance policies and contact details to ensure coverage and efficient claims.
•  Be aware that patient presentation patterns may change, impacting revenue, even if infrastructure is unaffected.

Staffing:

• Consider potential staff shortages and their impact on operations.
• Assess staff willingness to work during a disaster, acknowledging this may change when an event occurs.
• Where possible, enable remote work options for certain roles to maintain operations.

If your practice is impacted

If your practice experiences any disruption or requires support, please notify Gold Coast Primary Health Network so we can assess how best to assist.
• Email: practicesupport@gcphn.com.au
• Phone Help Desk: (07) 5612 5408 Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm

Resources for preparedness

• Australian Government – How to prepare an emergency management plan
• Queensland Government – Preparing your business for natural disasters and Business continuity planning
• City of Gold Coast Business Disaster Resilience Network – Join the Business Disaster Resilience Network
• Disaster Ready Training – Residential Aged Care and General Practice: enhance disaster preparedness, response, and recovery capabilities through business continuity planning workshops and mini-modules. Disaster Ready Training for RACHs & General Practice – Gold Coast Primary Health Network
• Emergency Response Planning Tool – ERPT is an online tool that assists general practices to develop an individually tailored emergency response plan, providing a roadmap to better prepare for, respond to and recover from the impacts of emergencies and pandemics. It includes key planning templates such as risk assessment and business continuity. See more here  EOI: free emergency planning software for general practice – Gold Coast Primary Health Network
• RACGP –Emergencies and pandemics