Professional development opportunities and events read more

Buruli Ulcer - do you know what to look for?
South Eastern Melbourne has some high risk areas read more

2018 National Immunisation Program seasonal influenza vaccines and resources
It's time to support awareness and uptake read more

Have you booked your place at our GP symposium?
Register now for our 2 June event read more

Free short-term psychological supports
Do you see people in these groups? read more

SafeScript is coming - are you prepared for real-time prescription monitoring?
Learn about the roll-out and what medicines are monitored read more

Think you know about exercise? Think again!
Come to this 31 May workshop in Mornington read more

Expression of Interest: GP Small Group Learning - Pharmacotherapy and AOD
This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from the experts read more

Expression of Interest: Suicide Prevention Advisory Groups
Would you like to make a difference? read more

Get up to speed with Renewed Cervical Screening and Bowel Cancer Guidelines
Tune into the webinar and get points as well read more

Three things you can do in Palliative Care Week 20-26 May
Find the right service, get training and resources read more

In Victoria this year, 31 cases of Buruli ulcer have been reported to date.

In our catchment, the highest risk is associated with the active transmission areas of Rye, Sorrento, Blairgowrie and Tootgarook on the Mornington Peninsula. There is a moderate risk associated in the Frankston and Seaford areas. There is a low risk associated with the rest of the Mornington Peninsula and the South Eastern Bayside suburbs.

The first sign of Buruli ulcer is usually a painless, non-tender nodule or papule. It is often mistaken for an insect or spider bite and is sometimes itchy. The lesion may occur anywhere on the body but it is most common on exposed areas of the limbs.

When recognised early, diagnostic testing is straightforward and prompt treatment can significantly reduce skin loss and tissue damage.

Please read the updated health alert issued by DHHS on 20 April.

You can also complete the RACGP learning module ‘Identifying and managing Buruli ulcer’.

Return to top

Now's the time to support awareness and uptake of the influenza vaccination under the National Immunisation Program.

Resources for vaccination providers:

• 2018 seasonal influenza vaccines – clinical advice for vaccination providers (factsheet)
• Check you have the right vaccine (safety card by age and vaccine)
• Check age before giving the flu shot (safety sticker for vaccine refrigerators)
• ATAGI statement on 2018 seasonal influenza vaccines
• Australian Immunisation Register – factsheet for vaccination providers

Resources for consumers:

• The flu vaccine – factsheet for consumers
• The flu vaccine – factsheet for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• The flu vaccine – poster for general setting
• The flu vaccine – poster for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander setting
• Vaccinate against flu. Protect your baby too – brochure for pregnant women
• Vaccinate against flu. Protect your baby too – factsheet for pregnant women
• Vaccinate against flu. Protect your baby too – poster for maternal health setting

Hardcopy materials, accompanied by correspondence from the Chief Medical Officer, have been mailed to vaccination providers Australia-wide including GPs, Aboriginal Medical Services, and other providers.

Extra copies of the resources can be ordered through the Department’s website via the links above.

Return to top

Do you have questions you’d like to ask when it comes to young patients and mental health?

Come along to our mental health symposium and join your fellow General Practitioners on 2 June for Mental health and young people: Providing the best primary care.

This event is especially for South Eastern Melbourne GPs to give you the opportunity to build connections with your fellow GPs, share stories and learn from each other. Bring your questions and don’t be afraid to ask them throughout the day. The day will consist of presentations from exerts in this fields, and interactive GP-to-GP sessions.

One in four people across South Eastern Melbourne suffer from mental illness, and we have some of the highest rates of suicide in the state.

The event will be held at Pullman & Mercure Melbourne Albert Park and is RACGP-accredited for 9 Category 2 points.

Spaces are limited so register here now.

Return to top

In your work in South Eastern Melbourne, do you see..

• children under 12 
• people living in residential aged care facilities
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 
• people experiencing homelessness 
• people at risk of suicide 
• culturally and linguistically diverse people 
• women with perinatal depression 
• people with substance use disorders 
• people who have experienced family violence?

Have you considered free (SEMPHN-funded) short-term psychological supports for people in these groups who have mental illness and can't afford services?

Accessible Psychological Interventions (API) are matched to people's needs and can include:

• cognitive-behavioural therapy
• skills training
• psycho-education
• relaxation strategies
• other evidence-based interventions.

They can be delivered by clinical psychologists, psychologists, mental health social workers, occupational therapists and mental health nurses.

To refer, fax a referral and GP Mental Health Treatment Plan to fax: 9793 9052 or call SEMPHN Mental Health Intake on ph:1800 862 363 (business hours) for priority assistance.

Find referral forms here or print this flyer for your GPs.

Note: API is not a crisis response service and does not provide emergency mental health advice or support.

Return to top

 

The Victorian Government has announced that Western Victoria Primary Health Network (PHN) catchment will be the study area for the Government’s real-time prescription monitoring system called SafeScript.

The SafeScript implementation strategy has two parts:

• study area (Western Vic PHN) implementation commencing late 2018
• all Victorian PHN implementation will be from early 2019.

The aim for SafeScript is to take action to reduce the growing harms, including deaths, from high-risk prescription medicines.  In 2016, there were 372 Victorian drug overdose deaths involving pharmaceutical medicines which is higher than the number of overdose deaths involving illicit drugs (257), and higher than the road toll (291).

The scale of this initiative is an Australian first. SafeScript software will be available across over 1,900 medical clinics, 1,300 pharmacies and 200 hospitals in Victoria.

Safescript will apply to all Schedule 8 medicines, such as oxycodone, morphine, alprazolam, methylphenidate and dexamphetamine, and some Schedule 4 medicines including all benzodiazepines such as diazepam, ‘Z-drugs’ such as zolpidem, and quetiapine. 

Codeine will be included at a later stage to allow clinicians time to adjust to the rescheduling of over-the-counter codeine products to prescription only.

Further SafeScript information is available here. The SafeScript implementation team can be contacted on 9096 5633 or via email safescript@dhhs.vic.gov.au.

Return to top

Would you like to know:

• how exercise can be used to prevent and manage patient chronic conditions?
• how graded exercise therapy helps patient safety?
• key aspects of the Australian Physical Activity Guidelines?
• about behavior change strategies that work, when it comes to adopting physical activity?
• more about existing physical activity and assessment tools in your medical software?

If you answered yes to any of these, come along to a two-hour workshop on 31 May in Mornington.

Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA) and SEMPHN are hosting the event, which will be facilitated by local accredited exercise physiologist, Rebecca Hallam.

By treating physical activity as a vital sign, you'll learn about the role of physical activity in the prevention and management of chronic disease.

You'll also leave the sesson with a suite of resources to support you in your assessment, management and referral of patients with (and at risk of) chronic disease.

• RACGP: Allocated 4 Category 2 points (Activity 10931) in the RACGP QI&CPD Program for the 2017-2019 triennium
• APNA: 2 CPD hours
• ACCRM: 2 Core Points

Register now!

Return to top

A new GP Small Group Learning (SGL) series covering the areas of Frankston, Mornington Peninsula and Casey, is starting soon, with the first meeting to be held in Cranbourne.

The SGL will focus on Alcohol and other Drugs (AOD), including pharmacotherapy (also known as Opioid Replacement Therapy or Medication Assisted Treatment of Opioid Dependence).

This is a fantastic opportunity for GPs to connect with and learn from peers and experts in the addiction medicine field. 

Facilitated by Monash Health Addiction Medicine Specialist Dr David Jacka and local GP Dr Ferghal Armstrong, this SGL will support GPs who manage patients affected by prescription medication misuse, dependence or illicit drug use. 

With codeine rescheduling and the upcoming implementation of SafeScript (Victoria’s real-time monitoring system), GPs will benefit from increasing their skills and confidence in working in the AOD space. 

The SGL meetings will be held every 6-8 weeks and will include a planning and reflection meeting. Forty Category 1 RACGP QI&CPD Points are available if attendance and learning requirements are met.

Why join an SGL?

• Enhance clinical competence, knowledge and performance
• Connect with peers in a supportive environment
• Select topics and session dates based on your learning needs and availability.

The first session will be held on 15 May 6.30pm-8.30pm in Cranbourne (arrival and light catering from 6pm). Please contact Michael Abelman on 0436 031 887 or Michael.Abelman@semphn.org.au for details about the specific location.

There are also SGL meetings in Bayside and Box Hill – please contact us if you would like more information.

This event is brought to you by the Area 4 Pharmacotherapy Network.  More information about the initiative is available at www.A4PN.org.au.

Return to top

 

Would you like to make a different in suicide prevention activities?

SEMPHN, in partnership with the Victorian Government, is supporting communities to reduce the incidence of suicide through a coordinated place-based approach to suicide prevention across the Greater Dandenong and Frankston Mornington Peninsula regions.

The suicide prevention place-based trials are part of an Australia-wide reform in suicide prevention, driven by the high rates of suicide and the need for a renewed approach.

SEMPHN is establishing a Greater Dandenong Suicide Prevention Advisory Group and a Frankston Mornington Peninsula Suicide Prevention Advisory Group to provide a local partnership approach for these trial sites. 

We are seeking representatives from a range of sectors and members of the community with lived experience of suicide.

Please read and/or complete the following Suicide Prevention Advisory Group forms by COB 15 May:

• Frankston Mornington Peninsula EOI
• Frankston Mornington Peninsula EOI application form
• Frankston Mornington Peninsula Terms of Reference
   
• Greater Dandenong EOI
• Greater Dandenong EOI application form
• Greater Dandenong Terms of Reference

Applicants will be notified of the outcome by 15 June.

Please submit any questions in writing to suicideprevention@semphn.org.au.

Return to top

Cancer Council Victoria, in partnership with SEMPHN, has developed a webinar for health professionals on the Renewal of the National Cervical Screening Program (which commenced 1 December) and the new NHMRC Clinical Guidelines for bowel cancer. 

The 90-minute webinar features presentations by Dr Stella Heley (Senior Liaison Physician, Victorian Cytology Service) and Professor James St. John (Honorary Senior Associate, Cancer Council Victoria).

The webinar is accredited with the RACGP QI&CPD Program  for 3 category 2 points (activity no. 118908).

Viewers are invited to complete a short survey before the webinar, and an evaluation form after the webinar.

Access the webinar here.

For more information, please contact Ashlee Taylor, Workforce Coordinator, Cancer Council Victoria on ashlee.taylor@cancervic.org.au or 9514 6427.

Return to top

Did you know there are three community palliative care services in the southern metropolitan region?

• Calvary Healthcare Bethlehem for the City of Port Phillip, Bayside, Stonnington and Glen Eira
• Peninsula Home Hospice for Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula
• Palliative Care South East for Greater Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia.
• The three services listed above cover the City of Kingston.

When speaking with your patients about palliative care, it might be useful to reinforce these messages:

• palliative care is about quality of life
• palliative care is available for a long time - not just the last few weeks
• palliative care is free
• palliative care can be delivered at home.

Three things you can do in Palliative Care Week:

1. In order to find the right palliative care service, visit the Palliative Care Victoria website and enter your patient's postcode in the search box.
2. To find out more about palliative care or get training in how to refer to palliative care, visit here.
3. Get more resources about Palliative Care Week here.

Return to top

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

10 May		APNA National Conference Nurses Brisbane Details and registration
10 May		Cabrini GP Lecture Series Lecture 2 - Ligament and tendon problems in ankles and feet GPs Malvern Details and registration
17 May		Cabrini GP Lecture Series Lecture 3 - Hot topics in Gastroenterology GPs Brighton Details and registration
23 May		Multi-disciplinary meetings (MDM) 2018 GPs Moorabbin Details and registration
24 May		Older Person Mental Health First Aid Course Mental health Workers, Aged care, Gps Frankston Details and registration
24 May		Cabrini GP Lecture Series Lecture 4 -Advances in radiation oncology GPs Brighton Details and registration
25 May		Primary Care Asthma Update Aboriginal Health Worker, Allied Health Professional, GPs, Nurses, Pharmacist Dandenong Details and registration
31 May		Exercise is Medicine Workshop Allied Health Professionals, GPs, Nurses Mornington Details and registration
2 June		South Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network GP Symposium GPs Albert Park Details and registration
2 June		Managing Difficult Situations & Challenging Behaviours workshop Nurses, Practice Administration, Practice Manager Frankston Details and registration

For more information about events contact Stephenie Cook ph: (03) 8514 6609 or events@semphn.org.au

Return to Top