Professional development opportunities and events read more

Hepatits B and immunosuppression
The Chief Health Officer has issued an advisory read more

Local practice networks in August
Get together with your peers and hear from presenters read more

Guide to HPOS
Interact online with DHHS and save time read more

Lived experience wisdom to support suicide prevention initiatives
This project will help local communities prevent suicide read more

Education: Refugee health & wellbeing in general practice
Would you like to better assess and manage patients with a refugee background? read more

New Cancer Council Victoria bowel screening website live
Get help with your SMS reminders and recall systems read more

Do you work with clients affected by alcohol and other drugs?
The Pharmacotherapy Network e-learning portal has online education that can help read more

Pharmacotherapy website
The A4PN website has lots of useful information read more

Have your say on the Health Star Rating system
There are two more weeks left to submit or do the survey read more

Getting your head around haemochromatosis
It's Haemochromatosis Awareness Week so enjoy this jargon-free article about the condition read more

The Chief Health Officer issued the following advisory on 2 August.

Key messages:

• Increasing numbers of Victorians are undergoing immunosuppression or chemotherapy to manage serious health conditions.
• Significant immunosuppression can lead to reactivation of chronic hepatitis B - including in people with past (resolved) hepatitis B infection.
• Test all people undergoing significant immunosuppression for current or past hepatitis B infection (HBsAg and anti-HBc) in line with current Australian guidelines.
• Refer patients with past or current hepatitis B infection to a doctor experienced in the management of viral hepatitis prior to immunosuppression. This will prevent hepatitis flares and associated morbidity and mortality.
• Offer free government-funded hepatitis B vaccine to all household and sexual contacts of people living with hepatitis B, as well as other priority populations.

Read the full Advisory

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SEMPHN-facilitated local Practice Networks are an ideal place to get together with your peers, as well as hearing from presenters and invited guests.

The next August Practice Network meetings are scheduled at:

• St Kilda, 10 August at St Kilda Town Hall 6.00 – 7.30pm Details and registration
• Frankston, 17 August at Cube 37 Frankston Arts Centre 6.00 – 7.30pm Details and registration

The Practice Managers presentation will discuss suicide prevention and up-skilling clinical staff to create a supportive environment within practices.

The Nurses presentation will cover optimal care pathways for people with bowel cancer.

Network meetings are held every two months in each location. A light dinner is provided, with dedicated time to talk among yourselves after the presentations.

Participants will also be invited to an online information sharing network via Basecamp.

First timers can register via our website Events page.

For more information contact Kate Ryan on 8514 6608 or email kate.ryan@semphn.org.au.

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Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) is a time-saver for doing business with the Department of Human Services because you can interact online rather than by phone or fax. However, it can be tricky to set up and get going.

We’ve added a guide to HPOS on our ImproveIT resource that has an overview of HPOS and briefly steps out how to do some common functions. PRODA, a method for signing on to HPOS, is included in the article.

Contact the digital health team if you need more advice or support on 03 8514 4460 or digitalhealth@semphn.org.au.

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SEMPHN, in a project with Roses in the Ocean, will use lived experiences to help Victorian communities develop local strategies to combat suicide.

The initiative will build capacity to better understand what leads people to suicide and help combat stigma and misinformation in the Frankston, Mornington Peninsula and Dandenong regions.

People bereaved by suicide and others with direct experience of suicide will be invited to be part of a supportive and safe training opportunity facilitated by Roses in the Ocean.

The project is part of 12 placed-based suicide prevention initiatives delivered in partnership with the state and federal government. The twelve place based suicide prevention trials in Victoria will be announced soon

Other activities, including training for frontline workers and general practice, will be part of the trials.

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GPs and practice nurses, would you like to be able to better assess and manage patients with a refugee background?

SEMPHN is offering a full-day education session 'Refugee health & wellbeing: essentials for assessment and management in general practice' on 2 September in Dandenong, in partnership with Monash Health.

Presented by refugee health experts from Monash Health Refugee Health and Wellbeing, topics will include:

• the current context of refugees in Victoria
• conducting a refugee health assessment
• communication strategies
• billing
• managing common infectious diseases
• developing immunisation catch-up schedules and paediatric issues.

Register here by 28 August or for more information contact  Stephenie Cook on stephenie.cook@semphn.org.au or 03 8514 6609.

The event is accredited with the RACGP for 40 Category 1 points.  Activity number: 108244.

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Your practice should have recently received a letter from Cancer Council Victoria to let you know about the new bowel cancer screening campaign and website.

Visit here to access a range of resources designed to help health professionals promote participation in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.

Another way you can encourage eligible patients aged 50-74 to do the bowel test when it's sent to their home is through SMS reminders.

SEMPHN is partnering with Cancer Council Victoria and HotDoc to help general practices to improve their recall and reminder systems and processes, focusing on SMS reminders for cancer screening.

To find out more about the Cancer Screening in General Practice Project and to find out how to get involved, see the project flyer or contact Alexandra McNaughton on 03 9514 6572 or alexandra.mcnaughton@cancervic.org.au.

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The Pharmacotherapy Network e-learning portal provides online education modules for general practice and pharmacy staff who work with clients affected by alcohol and other drugs.

Register here for access to training and education opportunities.

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The Area 4 Pharmacotherapy website offers useful resources and specific information for GPs, pharmacists, and other practice staff.

For further information email A4PN@semphn.org.au , call 03 8514 6600 or visit A4PN.org.au.

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Australians have an extra two weeks to have a say on the national Health Star Rating (HSR) system, with consultation extended until 17 August.

The public consultation is part of a planned five-year review of the system, and findings are expected to be provided to the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation (Forum) in mid 2019.

The HSR system is a voluntary front-of-pack labelling scheme intended to assist consumers in making healthier dietary choices by rating the overall nutritional profile of packaged food and assigning it a rating from half a star to five stars. The system provides a quick standard way to compare similar packaged foods at retail level.

Lodge your submission or complete the survey via the Australian Department of Health’s online Consultation Hub.

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This week is Haemochromatosis Awareness Week.

To learn more, read this jargon-free article on inherited iron overload, which has been reviewed by medical advisors to Haemochromatosis Australia.

The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia also released this article that explains why it's so important to measure a person’s iron stores with the right test, based on their clinical presentation.

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

10 Aug		St Kilda Practice Networks Practice Managers, Practice Nurses St Kilda Details and registration
10 Aug		Cabrini GP Lecture Series - Rheumatology GPs Brighton Details and registration
12 Aug		Acute Eye Conditions and Paediatric ENT GPs East Melbourne Details and registration
16  Aug		Real-Time Prescription Monitoring: Challenges and Opportunities GPs, Pharmacists, AOD Workers, Nurses Glen Waverley Details and registration
16 Aug		Thunderstorm Asthma Workshops GPs, Practice Nurse, Pharmacist, Physiotherapists Brighton Details and registration
17 Aug		Frankston Practice Networks Practice Managers, Practice Nurses Frankston Details and registration
17-18 Aug		Australian Youth AOD Conference 2017 Allied Health Professional, GPs, Other Melbourne Details and registration
17 Aug		Coordinating mental health care for people experiencing suicide bereavement webinar Mental health practitioners Webinar Details and registrations
21-22 Aug		Course in Wound Closure and Suturing Nurses, GPs, Allied Healthcare Workers Frankston Details and registration
22 Aug		Interesting Clinical Case Studies in Rheumatology Allied Health Professional, GPs Berwick Details and registration
23 Aug		Trans & Gender Diverse Youth Inclusive Practice Training GPs, Managers, Practice Nurses, Bentleigh East Details and registration
23 Aug		Lung cancer webinar -Diagnosis to survivorship What's new for GPs? GPs Webinar Details and registration
24 Aug		Cabrini GP Lecture Series - Rheumatology GPs Brighton Details and registration
26 Aug		Hepatitis C in Primary Care and Drug and Alcohol Settings GPs Essendon Details and registration

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

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