Professional development opportunities and events Read more

My Health Record security concerns unfounded
Medical practitioners and patients should continue to have faith in the My Health Record system despite recent media reports. Read more

Thunderstorm Asthma Workshops
Thunderstorm asthma workshops aim to prepare primary health care professionals for the thunderstorm asthma season. Read more

NDIS - Understanding the needs of service providers
An information session for local service providers working in and around the NDIS will be conducted in Dandenong on 19 July. Read more

Local Practice Networks to share knowledge
Local Practice Networks are an ideal place to get together with your peers and hear from presenters and invited guests. Read more

Improve management of chronic pain in Frankston-Mornington Peninsula
Specialist Pharmacotherapy Support Nurses are available free of charge to support general practices in chronic pain management. Read more

Culturally-sensitive Advance Care Planning
A brand new resource helps deliver quality Advance Care Planning for people from different religious and cultural backgrounds. Read more

Recent media reports have questioned the security of My Health Record and Medicare data following the discovery that Medicare card details are available to purchase on the so-called “dark web”.

There are excellent reasons for both medical practitioners and patients to continue to have faith in the security of health data in the Medicare system, including:

• Medicare card details alone do not allow access to My Health Record information — additional information is required to authenticate providers or consumers as a user before any records are accessible;
• Healthcare providers need conformant software and sufficient information about an individual to conduct an Individual Health Identifier (IHI) search;
• The My Health Record system has real-time monitoring and surveillance of every access to the system;
• Individuals are provided with the ability to control access to their health record, and are provided with a log of all instances where their record has been accessed

Thunderstorm asthma workshops aim to prepare primary health care professionals for the thunderstorm asthma season, and more specifically for the DHHS thunderstorm asthma public health campaign (launching in early September) that is expected to increase public awareness and interaction of the public with primary health care.

The workshops will cover:

• What is thunderstorm asthma?
• Who is at risk?
• What to do if thunderstorm asthma is forecast
• Asthma management
• Asthma action plans
• Acute asthma
• Asthma and allergies

SEMPHN will be hosting 3 workshops during July and August.

The first workshop will be held in Berwick on Thursday 27 July at 6.30pm. For further information and to register, click here.

Additional workshop details will be available shortly.

An information session for local service providers working in and around the NDIS will be conducted in Dandenong, 9.00–9.30am on Wednesday 19 July.

The session will help service providers understand SEMPHN's current position and plans in relation to NDIS rollout, service delivery and service continuation.

This event sets in motion a plan to support service providers and improve understanding of the otions and steps to prepare for successful transition.

The session is free, with a light lunch provided. Register here.

For further information, contact Michael Sillekens on (03) 8792 1951 or michael.sillekins@semphn.org.au.

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Practice Managers and Practice Nurses clearly benefit from sharing their knowledge and experiences.

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

Upcoming Practice Network meetings are scheduled at:

• Dandenong, 2 August
• St Kilda, 10 August
• Frankston, 17 August

The August 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 cancer.

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

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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SEMPHN and Peninsula Health are making specialist Pharmacotherapy Support Nurses available free of charge to support Frankston-Mornington Peninsula general practices in chronic pain management.

The Support Nurses will provide one-on-one patient support and guidance to GPs to improve management of patients with chronic pain. Services include:

• Clinical support to help identify and engage patients with chronic pain who may benefit from a medication review.
• GP training and support on medical management of opioid dependence.
• Improve management of chronic pain, and access to appropriate support services, for patients with complex psychosocial issues.

For detailed information, contact Jacqueline Apostolopoulos on 0429 808 317 or jacqueline.apostolopoulos@semphn.org.au.

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A brand new resource to help you deliver quality Advance Care Planning for people from different religious and cultural backgrounds is now available online.

ACPTalk.com.au provides Advance Care Planning information relevant to Bahá'í, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Secularism and Sikhism. It is designed for use by both health professionals and general public.

It covers background and beliefs, disclosure or medical prognosis and language, who should be involved, rituals and practices, festivals and special dates, special considerations and advice on having the ACP conversation.

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

12 July		Biannual Frankston Forum: Medicinal cannabis, alcohol and opioids GPs, Nurse Practitioners, Pharmacist Frankston Details and registration
17 July		Effective work with Adolescents in AOD services AOD sector practitioners Hastings Details and registration
18 July		Perform CPR - a workshop for GPs GPs East Melbourne Details and registration
19 July		Multi-disciplinary meetings (MDM) 2017 GPs Moorabbin Details and registration
19 July		NDIS - Understanding the needs of our service providers Local service providers Dandenong Details and registration
19 July		Melbourne Diabetes MHPN Meeting GPs Carlton Details and registration
20 July		Social Media & healthy Development Where To From Here? Frankston Details and registration
26 July		Thunderstorm Asthma Workshops GPs, Practice Nurse, Pharmacist, Physiotherapists Berwick Details and registration
26 July		Benzodiazepine Reduction Programs in General Practice GPs, Pharmacists, Nurses, AOD Workers Doncaster Details and registration
28 July		Respiratory update GPs Melbourne Details and registration
29 July		Medication Assisted Treatment of Opioid Dependence (MATOD) training - Module 2 GPs Ballarat Details and registration
2 Aug		Dandenong Practice Networks Practice Managers, Practice Nurses Dandenong Details and registration

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

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