Open tender to deliver mental health and suicide prevention services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

South Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network (SEMPHN) is pleased to invite eligible organisations to tender for the delivery of mental health and suicide prevention services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 

Improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health, and suicide prevention, is a key priority area in the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan. 

Close to 30% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people report having a diagnosed mental health condition and 30% report high or very high levels of psychological distress, which is nearly three times that reported by non-Indigenous Australians.

Applying for this tender

To be considered for this tender, applicants must be:

• Indigenous corporations registered under the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act); Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs)
• ACCHOs who currently have a GP clinic as part of their primary health service infrastructure
• ACCHOs who can deliver on-site services within the SEMPHN catchment.

Prospective service providers are invited to present a service model that addresses the needs of local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 

All questions must be submitted via SEMPHN's eProcure. 
All tenders must be submitted via SEMPHN's eProcure.

Read the full news item. 

 Join us on Wednesday for our weekly COVID-19 General Practice Webinars 

SEMPHN is conducting weekly general practice webinars over the coming weeks with the SEMPHN CEO, Board Chair and general practice peers. 

General practitioners and practice managers are invited to join.  

View the notes from previous Weekly COVID-19 General Practice Webinars. 

Registration details for the next meetings:

• Wednesday, 22 April, at 12.30pm
• Wednesday, 29 April at 12.30pm

For further information on this series of meetings contact Georgina Ladd on 8514 4423 or email events@semphn.org.au.

An option for patient support during COVID-19

SEMPHN has developed an automated, free SMS service for community members who are physical distancing, in social isolation, or quarantine at home as a result of:

• suspected COVID-19 (symptomatic and/or awaiting test results)

• a COVID-19 diagnosis

• high risk or vulnerable groups (asymptomatic)

• a declared state of emergency and ‘lockdown’, where people need some support.

Cyber Clinic: Access to FREE mental health service through video consults

With increasing access to technology, patients are now able to access mental health services through their mobile phones.

Video consultation offers a unique opportunity for practitioners to engage patients, extend coverage, improve access and reduce costs.

SEMPHN has engaged Cyber Clinic to provide the platform to psychologists from our Accessible Psychological Interventions (API) services to connect with patients through video consultations. 

Why should patients consider video consults?

• It's a free option for API patients

• Helps patients manage their mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Secure, end-to-end encryption (unlike platforms like Zoom)

• After hours appointments available 

• User-friendly so patients can track their progress in the app

•  24/7 access to booking appointments 

How to refer 

Call SEMPHN's Access & Referral team on 1800 862 363. Find the referral forms here.

Monash Health Clayton, Casey and Dandenong pathology collection centres are temporarily closed

Due to the COVID-19 and new precautions required for hospital sites, Monash Health's Clayton, Casey and Dandenong Collection Centres are required to close temporarily as of Monday 13 April until further notice.

Monash’s other collection centres will remain open with increased capacity to provide more access to patients for pathology collection services.

For up to date information including OPEN Monash Pathology sites, please use the following links:

• Monash Pathology Homepage
• Monash Pathology GP Newsletter

SEMPHN's immunisation update recording is available now!

On 7 April 2020, SEMPHN hosted a virtual immunisation update for health professionals on Zoom. 

Thank you to all those who attended. 

This webinar was led by Dr Peter Eizenberg, who discussed:

• how COVID-19 may affect the flu season in 2020
• an overview of the 2020 seasonal influenza program
• adult pneumococcal vaccines, and
• maintaining a cool cold chain.

View the webinar here, it runs for approx. 75 minutes. 

Recommended reading

Want to read more about immunisation? We have a few pages with relevant information for health professionals. 

Visit our immunisation service delivery and COVID-19 page, or visit our immunisation page.

Quality Improvement & PIP QI

All practices who registered with SEMPHN for PIP QI met the data upload requirement for this quarter (February to April).

Each quarter, we keep a close eye on how the uploads are going and if it looks like there's a problem, we'll get in touch with you well before the deadline. So if we know you're on PIP QI, you don't have to worry about it. 

We hope COVID-19 hasn't disrupted your quality improvement activities too much. Now is a good time to assess the robustness of your improvement capability. Don't forget that we have a couple of options to help you track your chosen important outcome measure:

1. An online chart builder for you to easily update a line chart each month (see example above).
2. An Excel template similar to the online version, but that enables you to track the measure against the names of individual doctors (because this has doctor names, we're not making an online version). 

Get in touch with your provider support officer if you would like to know more or email: providersupport@semphn.org.au.

 POSTPONED: SafeScript - Tackling the Difficult Conversations (Webinar) 

Please note this webinar that was scheduled for 5 May, has been postponed until further notice. You can still register for the event below to join us in the future. We will let registrants know when the new date is available. 

Register here.

SafeScript presents an opportunity to reduce harms associated with high-risk medications, to promote quality use of medicines and to support patients with substance use disorders such as opioid dependence. 

Join us for this live Webinar to learn more about how to navigate the honest, and sometimes difficult, conversations which have the potential to make a significant difference to the lives and health outcomes of your patients.

This webinar will take into consideration changes to practice due to COVID-19, such as physical distancing and telehealth, and the current mandatory SafeScript period.

This event is not official SafeScript training, however, is designed to complement past or upcoming SafeScript training sessions.  More information on official SafeScript training is available here.

Life! program still open for referrals 

The Life! program remains dedicated to supporting individuals who are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. 

 Life! is a free Victorian healthy lifestyle program that is funded by the Victorian State Government. It will help your high-risk patients learn more about nutrition, physical activity, mental health and wellbeing, and goal setting.

The program is delivered by experienced health professionals through various platforms including a Telephone Health Coaching service and online support.

Life! offers a financial incentive for GPs to refer eligible patients into the Life! program. The reimbursement for referring into the program is:

• $20.00 + GST for referring an eligible participant
• $25.00 + GST for each participant who completes an introductory session (first session of the program)

Please refer your high-risk patients to the Life! program. The GP Life! referral form is available as a template in Best Practice, Medical Director, Genie and ZedMed.

For more information on the Life! program and the financial incentive, please contact the Primary Care Engagement Coordinator, Elleni Kaias, ekaias@diabetesvic.org.au or (03) 9667 1724. 

Family Advocacy and Support Services now available over the phone

Although the physical entry to the Dandenong & Melbourne Family Law Courts is currently restricted due to the COVID-19 situation, the Family Advocacy and Support Services (FASS) continues to provide help to clients via phone.

FASS provides help and legal support to clients that have experienced, used or are alleged to have used family violence in their relationship, and who need legal assistance with family law, child protection or family violence intervention orders.

If a client needs help with their legal or non-legal issues, please have them call our FASS Information Referral Officer (IRO) on (03) 8373 7917. The IRO will triage the client over the phone and then make the appropriate referrals to a duty lawyer and/or a specialist family violence support worker.

If you are needing further clarification or have any questions, contact FASS by emailing fass@wayss.org.au or calling (03) 9791 6111.

Want access to conferences for free? Tell them SEMPHN sent you...

To support general practitioners in the South Eastern Melbourne PHN region during the COVID 19 pandemic, ArmchairMedical are offering every GP 10 weeks free access to ArmchairMedical tv.

Choose the events, topics and lectures you are most interested in, and "attend" events from the comfort of your office or home. 

ArmchairMedical.tv is an on-demand program of Australia's most interesting medical conferences, with new content every month.

SEPC Fund grants application closing date extended to 1 June

Grants from the South Eastern Primary Care (SEPC) Fund are made to support the primary health care workforce in the South-Eastern region of Melbourne, so they can provide optimum care for the community.

This year’s grants round opened on 5 March and was due to close on 27 April. However, it is recognised that the current situation may make it difficult to complete applications in this time frame. 

The closing date for applications has been extended until 5pm, Monday 1 June 2020.

The SEPC Fund provides:

• Scholarships for primary health care professionals and support staff to undertake education and training (up to $5,000)
• Grants for organisations to develop and deliver training to primary health care professionals and/or support staff (up to $10,000)
• Grants for primary health care professionals or organisations to develop and undertake projects within the primary health care setting (up to $10,000).

Visit the SEPC Fund website to apply.

To be eligible, applicants must work or provide services within the South Eastern Region, specifically the Shire of Cardinia and Cities of Casey and Greater Dandenong.

For more information contact Trudy Wyse on 03 9412 0412 or at consulting@communityfoundation.org.au