HeadtoHelp: find the right mental health service for your patients

HeadtoHelp is a free service option which can help you manage patients who are experiencing stress, anxiety and other mental health issues.

If you have a patient who needs mental health support, you can refer them to HeadtoHelp Ph: 1800 595 212 Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm. Anyone can call.

There are 15 hubs in Victoria. In South Eastern Melbourne, the hubs are located in Frankston, Officer and Berwick. These hubs provide onsite support for those who need it. Services are also available through telehealth.

The hubs’ multidisciplinary teams of mental health workers, including psychologists, mental health nurses, social workers, and alcohol and drug workers, will coordinate with you - the patient’s regular GP – or help them find a regular GP if they do not have one.

Services are free of charge and a Medicare card or ID is not required.

Learn more here.

What's the impact of COVID-19 on the delivery of immunisation services?

The Commonwealth Department of Health has recently contracted Associate Professor Michelle Giles from Monash University to undertake a study investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the delivery of immunisation services in Australia.

Associate Professor Giles and her team have developed a survey aimed at immunisation providers in Australia including questions regarding vaccination for children, adults, pregnant women and school-based programs.

The survey also addresses other topics including influenza vaccine demand and workforce issues due to COVID-19, among others.

The survey can be accessed online here: https://redcap.link/immunisationsincovid

The online survey link will be active and available to immunisation providers until the end of January 2021.

BreastScreen Victoria opens new Frankston Clinic

BreastScreen Victoria clients will benefit from a new clinic in Frankston that will provide a more comfortable screening experience. The new site offers the latest digital imaging technology in improved premises.

The new site is located at 24 Playne Street, Frankston, just 120 meters along the road from BreastScreen Frankston’s previous location. The previous Frankston BreastScreen clinic is permanently closed.

There is convenient parking located behind the new clinic as well as street parking. The site has disabled access via the front entrance, and disabled parking also out the front.

For further information for Health Professionals, click here.

For information on local breast cancer pathways, click here. 

GPs, are you sharing this bowel cancer screening campaign?

Cancer Council Victoria is asking GPs and health professionals to throw their support behind a bowel cancer screening campaign, ‘Spending more time at home? Now’s the perfect time to do the test – it could save your life’.

The campaign targets people aged 50-74, with an emphasis on men aged 50-59, to encourage them to take part in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.

Bowel cancer is our second biggest cancer killer, taking around 100 Australian lives each week. Yet, if more people completed the at-home bowel screening test every two years, many of these lives could be saved. Cancer Council research has shown that if screening participation can be increased to just 6 in 10 people, around 84,000 Australian lives could be saved in the next twenty years.

Evidence shows that a recommendation from a GP or health professional encourages people to take part in bowel screening. Talk to your patients about the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, it could save their life. If you would like further education on how to increase participation rates in your practice, please email emma.frawley@semphn.org.au to book a virtual appointment with Clem and Janine, CCV’s Cancer Specialist Nurses.

For more information:

• For Health Professionals
• For Types of Cancer factsheets
• SEMPHN’s Bowel, Breast and Cervical cancer screening webinar

November webinar series postponed: Blood borne viruses and STIs

The webinar series previously planned for 24, 25 and 26 November to learn more about Sexually transmissible infections (STIs) and blood-borne viruses (BBVs) has been postponed to early 2021.

 Keep an eye out for the registration links in future editions of this newsletter. 

Overview of the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) is responsible for managing a number of national accreditation schemes, including the National General Practice Accreditation (NGPA) Scheme.

The Commission has published Fact sheet: Overview of the NGPA Scheme on the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme. 

It includes information on 

• Approved accrediting agencies
• Accreditation cycle
• Extension to the accreditation expiry date
• Process for relocating to other premises
• Transferring between accrediting agencies

To view the factsheet, click here.