Professional development opportunities and events read more

Grants open: After Hours GP-led service in aged care facilities
This opportunity is open in six LGAs read more

We've moved!
Please note our new office details read more

G'day Nellie - telehealth with a human touch
Would you like your patients to better self-manage? read more

SEMPHN GP Symposium has Craig Hamilton as MC
Register now for our inaugural event read more

'You can't be strong all the time...' Dandenong resident encourages others to reach out for help
Read Chez's story about beyondblue Connect read more

Dandenong: Do you know someone with lived experience of suicide who might like to help others?
Read about the free workshop in May read more

My Health Record in Pharmacy - national accredited webinar
Get up to speed with using My Health Record read more

Practice Networks this month: Diabetes, HR strategies
Come to our April Network meetings read more

GP training for the management of opioid dependence
With the recent codeine changes, it's a good time to upskill read more

Have you heard about Ambulance Victoria Care Plans?
You might be asked to share informaiton about your patients read more

SEMPHN invites Approved Medical Deputising Services (AMDS), or general practice/s with an appropriate AMDS Licence, to apply for grants for an After Hours General Practitioner-led telephone triage and attendance service to Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACF).

SEMPHN is offering grants of up to $150,000 (GST exclusive) per successful eligible AMDS to provide services to RACFs in the Local Government Areas of Bayside, Kingston, Greater Dandenong, Frankston, Casey and/or Mornington Peninsula over an 18 month period, including:

• a 'first point of call' telephone triage service delivered by a Vocationally Registered General Practitioner (VR GP) and,
• GP Attendance service by VR GPs or Non VR GPs (if Non VR GP attending, remote supervision from VR GP required) to RACFs as required in the After Hours period.

This tender opportunity is an expansion of the recent successful trial funded by SEMPHN for services provided to RACFs.

To see full details, register your interest and apply for these tender go to to SEMPHN's Tenderlink page. Please note, all questions about the tenders must be asked via the online forum on SEMPHN’s Tenderlink page.

Tenders close 3pm 7 May.

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To improve efficiency, SEMPHN has consolidated our four offices into one location.

Please note our new address for your records and meetings/visits to our office:

South Eastern Melbourne PHN          
Level 2, 15 Corporate Drive                  
Heatherton 3202.            

Note: The Dandenong SEMPHN office will close on 20 April and the Mornington SEMPHN office will close on 25 May.

We look forward to welcoming you into our new space!

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Have you heard about Nellie? Originally hailing from the UK (where she is known as Florence or Flo) Nellie is an SMS-based persona for promoting patient self-care.

Since starting in South Eastern Melbourne in December last year, she's now being used in eight practices with almost 100 patients, and more patients are coming on every day.

If you’re a practice in our catchment you can use Nellie to help your patients get more confident in self-management. Whatever your priorities are, Nellie can probably help. The protocol-based system is flexible and can be customised to fit within your existing workflow, deal with a wide range of goals and improve patient outcomes. Protocol messages can be a mix of prompts, education, motivation and requests for patient readings.

This 5-minute video of three Flo patients is a great way to get a sense of how Nellie works.

Nellie needs a bit of introduction, so if you would like to know more, give the Nellie team a call on ph: 8514 4460, or email nellie@semphn.org.au.

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GPs in South East Melbourne, please register now for our inaugural GP symposium on Saturday June 2 from 9am to 3pm.

The symposium will focus on mental health and young people, and will provide practical clinical information about eating disorders, depression, self-harm, suicide prevention and anxiety from experts in the field, as well as interactive sessions.

It will also be an opportunity to find out what we're doing in the mental health space, locally.

The MC and key note speaker for this event is Craig Hamilton (pictured at right), an ABC broadcaster and Beyond Blue Ambassador, who in September 2000, on the eve of his assignment for the Sydney Olympic Games, experienced a major psychotic episode in public that led to him being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Craig is one of Australia's most high profile and most sought-after speakers on mental health awareness, lifestyle, overcoming adversity and work/life balance.

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

Register here.

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“I know things are going to get better, it’s just really rough right now”, says Chez through tears. Chez was at a point of despair in her relationship – she was worried about how much her partner was drinking, smoking and gambling, and how she felt when her partner would drink too much and yell at her.

“I couldn’t cope,” she said. “I’m 47 years old and I know so many things, but I didn’t know how to deal with that,” she describes. ‘I’d been single for 18 and a half years before this relationship, but here I was with a partner who was selfish, disrespectful, dishonest and getting nasty. I just didn’t want that.”

Recognising that she wanted help with her relationship and her feelings, Chez saw an ad about beyondblue on TV, then went online and found beyondblue Connect – a free peer-support service that puts people in Greater Dandenong in touch with mentors. One phone call was all it took to set up an appointment with a mentor.

“I wanted help for myself – and for my relationship,” Chez recalls. “Unfortunately, I was willing, but he wasn’t.” Chez has since broken up with her partner, but she’s confident she’s made the right decision. “Even though we’re no longer together, getting help was definitely worth it,” she says. Chez’s mentor at beyondblue Connect helped her sort through her feelings, and listen without judgement.

“We know that people who get help early when they’re struggling with challenging or stressful situations are able to cope better, and they’re less likely to experience mental health problems later on,” says Chez’s beyondblue Connect mentor.

“The break-up is still fresh, and it hurts a lot, but I know I can turn to beyondblue Connect anytime for help,” Chez says. “You can’t be strong all the time. It’s OK to get help - I’m so glad I did.”

beyondblue Connect is funded by South Eastern Melbourne PHN (SEMPHN) and is part of SEMPHN’s Mental Health Stepped Care. Stepped Care offers flexible treatment and support in line with people’s needs, with the ability to ‘step up’ or ‘step down’ to different intensity support as people's needs change over time. To find out more, call SEMPHN Mental Health Intake on ph: 1800 862 363 (9am-5pm weekdays).

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Roses in the Ocean is offering a SEMPHN-funded two-day workshop, called 'Our Voice', on 10 and 11 May in Dandenong.

It's free of charge for participants (spaces strictly limited).

‘Our Voice’ is a program for people with a lived experience of suicide who are ready and keen to explore opportunities to be involved in suicide prevention activities.

Lived experience of suicide can be:

• being bereaved by suicide
• having experienced suicidal thoughts
• having survived a suicide attempt
• supporting someone who has been suicidal.

See the flyer or complete an expression of interest here.

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Pharmacists, want to know more about using My Health Record?

The Australian Digital Health Agency is holding a national 'My Health Record in Pharmacy' accredited webinar just for pharmacists 6.30pm-8pm on 23 April.

The webinar will be presented by Shane Jackson (National President of PSA) and Danny Agnola (Pharmacist, My Health Record Primary Care Educator).

Learning outcomes:

• learn about the features and benefits of using My Health Record in your pharmacy practice
• confidently communicate the benefits of the My Health Record system to patients
• learn the privacy and security measures taken to protect My Health Record and how to discuss privacy concerns
• understand how more comprehensive clinical information (accessed via My Health Record) can contribute to patient care.

Accreditation Number: CX17166 This activity has been accredited for 2 hours of Group 1 CPD (or 2 CPD credits) suitable for inclusion in an individual pharmacist’s CPD plan which can be converted to 2 hours of Group 2 CPD (or 4 CPD credits) upon successful completion of relevant assessment activities.

Register here

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Practice managers and practice nurses, please join us for some interesting topics at this month’s Practice Network meetings.

Practice nurses will receive a diabetes clinical update including:

• medications update - current and new medications, when and how they are used
• best practice management of diabetes
• when to refer and who to refer to.

Practice managers will learn about HR strategy in general practice including:

• an overview of HR strategy in general practice
• documents required to successfully manage your HR workforce
• Q&A on current practice HR issues.

Cost: Free. Sandwiches and Tea/coffee provided.

Register here:

• Dandenong Practice Network: 18 April – Greater Dandenong City Council, 6pm-7.30pm
• Frankston Practice Network: 19 April – Cube 37, Frankston, 6pm-7.30pm

Practice Tip: You could use POLAR GP to check the number of patients with a diagnosis of diabetes (including Type I, Type II and Type Unknown), and generate a patient recall list to help with the management of their care.

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With codeine now rescheduled to 'prescription only', it's an important time for GPs to understand opioid dependence.

Codeine dependence is treated in the same way as any type of opioid dependence – with Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Dependence (MATOD), also known as Opioid Replacement Therapy (ORT) or Pharmacotherapy.

RACGP provides MATOD training for GPs in two parts:

Module 1 – Safer Opioid Prescribing
A two hour online training presented by specialist GPs, accredited for four Category 2 RACGP QI&CPD points for the 2017-2019 triennium. Click here for learning objectives and registration.

Module 2
A full day interactive workshop presented by specialist GPs, accredited for 40 Category 1 RACGP QI&CPD points for the 2017-2019 triennium.  Register for the next available workshop on 21 April in Warragul, or register for the following workshop on 24 June in East Melbourne.

Learning outcomes:

• outline the potential benefits and risks associated with opioid prescribing
• recognise, prevent and respond to problematic pharmaceutical opioid use
• identify the legal issues regarding the prescribing of buprenorphine and methadone
• implement safe and effective opioid and or methadone prescribing as part of a broader pain management plan
• safely and effectively prescribe buprenorphine and or methadone for opioid dependence.

Please note: any GP can prescribe buprenorphine/naloxone for up to five patients without doing the above training. For more information click here or contact A4PN@semphn.org.au to access GP and specialist support through your local pharmacotherapy network.

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As a GP, you may receive a call from the Ambulance Victoria (AV) Referral Service regarding the development of a patient’s AV Care Plan.

You may be asked to share information about your patient such as medical history, medications, pathology and ongoing medical treatments.

AV Care Plans are tailored care plans for patients who are frequent callers to Ambulance Victoria requesting emergency ambulance attendance, where alternative community care providers or self-care advice is more appropriate.

This flyer explains AV Care Plans in more detail, including AV’s legal obligations.

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

18 Apr		Dandenong Practice Networks Practice Nurse, Practice Managers Dandenong Details and registration
19 Apr		Frankston Practice Networks Practice Nurse, Practice Managers Frankston Details and registration
19-20 Apr		Course in Wound Closure and Suturing Nurses, GPs South Yarra Details and registration
21 Apr		Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Dependence (MATOD) Module 2 GPs Warragul Details and registration
1 May		Cultural Respect & Appreciation Workshop GPs, Practice Nurse, Practice Manager Doveton Details and registration
2 May		Holmesglen Multi-disciplinary meetings (MDM) 2018 GPs Moorabbin Details and registration
5 May		Mending Hearts - A Comprehensive Update in Cardiology GPs Malvern Details and registration
7 May		Heavy menstrual bleeding: Delivering best practice care forum GPs, Nurses, Women's health services, Surgeons, gynaecologists/obstetricians Melbourne Details and registration
10 May		Quality Improvement Strategies GPs, Managers, Practice Nurse, Owner/Principal, Practice Administration St Kilda Details and registration
10 May		APNA National Conference Nurses Brisbane Details and registration
16 May		Diagnosis and Management of Syphilis, Gonorrhoea and Chlamydia in Primary Care GPs & Sexual health clinicians Melbourne Details and registration

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

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