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Edition 3 – October | November | December 2016
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A message from our CEO
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'Tis the season to share some of the success stories Northern Territory PHN (NT PHN) has produced with our valued stakeholders over the year!
It’s been a big year for us with significant change including the shift to commissioning excellence and a relocation to a new premise. Our commitment to ensuring Territorians enjoy their best health and wellbeing remains unchanged, however. Our partnerships with our stakeholders have gone from strength to strength – an indication of our growth, progress and dedication to primary health care.
In our last issue for the year, we feature the encouraging story of Jasmine Steel, Health and General Clinic Nurse at Tennant Creek. Jasmine discusses her passion for working with locals, playing a crucial role in promoting regular health checks and helping to restore confidence in female patients by building relationships.
The chasm between high school and university is bridged through the Rural High School Visits program, which enables tertiary students from a health discipline to impart their knowledge and experience with high school students. We showcase some of the terrific projects and activities developed by various organisations through our Preventative Health Grants that improve community health across the Territory. Find out about the Good Food project in Central Australia which has cultivated strong community engagement and sustainable gardens across 10 homelands, as well as teaching families the benefits of adding fruit and vegetables to meals.
As I reflect proudly at how much we have achieved in 2016, I am also looking forward to the arrival of a new year which will offer additional education and training events for our health professionals, the rollout of HealthPathways and further opportunities to collaborate with our stakeholders to yield positive health outcomes.
On behalf of NT PHN, I wish you a very happy and safe festive season.
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Nicki Herriot |
CEO – Northern Territory PHN |
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Above: Health and General Clinic Nurse, Jasmine Steel, at work with Aboriginal Health Practitioner, Rhonda O’Keefe in Tennant Creek
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Tackling chronic health conditions with rapport, empowerment and determination
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When Jasmine Steel heard about the murder of backpacker Peter Falconio in the outback in 2002 as a teenager, she swore she would never visit Tennant Creek.
Fast forward 14 years and Jasmine has faced the fears of living in the rugged highway town and is working in her dream remote nursing job at the local Aboriginal medical centre.
Jasmine, who studied nursing in Bendigo, moved to Tennant Creek in 2015 to follow her passion for working in remote and rural areas to work as a women’s health and general clinic nurse.
The mother of two has immersed herself in the culture of the local Indigenous people and is enjoying the difference she is already making to the lives of women in the community.
“Learning about the local Indigenous culture is one of the reasons we moved here,” Jasmine said. “I wanted my children to have vast life experiences.”
Jasmine is experiencing that herself as she works with people with the type of acute and chronic health conditions she would rarely haven seen in her home town of Bendigo.
“The rate of ear infections, impetigo, scabies and STIs in general are high and there are high levels of chronic conditions in young age groups, including diabetes and hypertension,” she said.
The close relationship she develops with her patients allows Jasmine to not only treat the symptoms but also promote lifestyle changes that potentially help the cause behind the illness.
“When a woman comes into the clinic who has always refused to have her women’s health check because of something traumatic 15 years ago, I feel privileged to be able to build a relationship with her so she feels comfortable to be treated,” Jasmine said.
“Many women who attend the clinic have not had women’s checks for over 10 or 15 years, and lots have never been screened. I feel privileged to be able to build a relationship with women so they are informed about women’s health and feel comfortable to have women’s health checks.
“Health promotion is a part of every consult and I feel I can help influence a change in their lifestyle.”
Jasmine says she feels embraced by the community and her employer, and staff at NT PHN are only a phone call away if she needs support.
“Our family has made many amazing friends in the community,” she said. “I love working here – I get real pleasure out of helping people and the environment is great, the clinic is well resourced and we have good support from the doctors and health professionals.
“NT PHN is also there to support you, which has been wonderful.”
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Above: Dr Kara Britz with Robyn Cahill at the Palmerston Super Clinic
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My Health Record allows patients to access and manage their health information
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The Northern Territory (NT) health sector is leading the way in digital health after a new national agency was established to revitalise the initiative.
The Australian Digital Health Agency was formed in July 2016 to create a national digital health system and increase the uptake of the My Health Record across Australia.
Previously known as My eHealth Record in the NT, the national My Health Record is a secure, centralised information system that provides people ready access to their medical records.
NT PHN has been working with the NT Government and Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT to drive the digital health agenda and improve how health information is shared to deliver safer, improved quality health care for Territorians.
The three NT health agencies have been transitioning patients to the My Health Record. General practice clinics, pharmacies and specialists are now using the My Health Record, with many patients already benefiting from having a central, shared health record.
NT PHN provides practice support to help train and support health professionals to use the My Health Record system, including how to upload health summaries and view patient files.
Digital health connects various points of health care so information can be shared securely, including hospital discharge summaries, specialist letters, referrals, prescriptions and a shared summary of previous health events.
The My Health Record enables people to access their own health information any time via the myGov website, including their Medicare information, past prescriptions and health notes. Patients can determine which records can be shared with health providers, track their My Health Record and receive notifications each time their information is viewed by a health professional.
An app is also being developed so people can access their health records on their smartphone or tablet device.
Health providers can access My Health Records through a national provider portal, integrated clinical information system or patient administration system, using specialist clinical software. NT PHN provides practice support to help train health professionals to upload health summaries and view patient files.
People can create their My Health Record by searching for myGov on the internet or asking their local GP clinic for information.
Benefits for patients include:
• 24/7 access to health information anywhere in Australia and overseas
• ability to track immunisations, medications and allergies; and
• better understanding and involvement in their own health care.
Benefits for health providers include:
• more time with patients and less time on paperwork
• greater information sharing between providers, e.g. doctors and hospitals
• immediate access to important patient information when needed.
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Above: Boys participate in an alcohol and other drugs education session in Mutitjulu
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From mobile laundries to mental health programs: Preventative Health Grants
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A mobile scabies education and eradication program on the Tiwi Islands is one of seven preventative health projects recently funded by NT PHN. NT PHN’s Preventative Health Grants help fund projects that aim to improve health and prevent chronic disease in remote communities.
The project received $15 000 to outfit a trailer with a washing machine, dryer and industrial steam cleaners to create a mobile laundry to combat scabies.
Scabies are endemic in remote communities and can cause streptococcal skin infections that potentially lead to chronic kidney disease and rheumatic heart disease.
The Tiwi Health Homes Project is run by the Tiwi Islands Training and Employment Board and will employ about five people a day to launder linen and mattresses in local houses. The service will create awareness about improving hygiene in homes, which often do not have access to washing machines, and will kill any parasites in bedding and mattresses.
Spark Australia also received a $15 000 grant from NT PHN for a culturally appropriate education program to promote mental health and address harmful drug and alcohol use in Kaltukatjara (Docker River). The program was previously run successfully in Mutitjulu with more than 100 community members.
Education sessions are held in country with men and boys, and women and girls, and at local schools and art workshops to address the abuse of alcohol and other substances, as well as related issues of violence, self-harm and vandalism.
“It’s good to take young fellas to the bush. That’s where we need to talk, then we will feel strong again,” traditional owner Sammy Wilson said.
Five other Preventative Health Grants were recently announced by NT PHN, including:
• Hearing Health Program - creating an animated video to teach children and families about their ears and how to look after them
• Family Planning Welfare Association – increasing access to sexual and reproductive health services for Indigenous people
• Menzies School of Health Research – developing culturally appropriate health promotion on rheumatic heart disease in language for people in Wadeye, Maningrida and East Arnhem
• Menzies School of Health Research – developing a community-based response to alcohol problems in Katherine to inform a new alcohol strategy
• Red Cross – providing the opportunity for disadvantaged youth to participate in local team sports through the Home Runners Project in Alice Springs.
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Above: Residents at Soapy Bore working on a community garden
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Kale hot dog becomes a new hit
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When children pull out and eat carrots straight from the garden during a footy carnival, it shows a ‘gardens on community’ program is working at the Utopia Homelands in Central Australia.
NT PHN funds local organisation, Arid Edge Environmental Services, to establish 12 gardens in 10 homelands for the community to harvest and eat their own-grown fruit and vegetables.
The Good Food project aims to increase access to nutritious food and educate locals about the importance of including fresh fruit and vegetables in their diet. With the help of a dietician and nutritionist, communities are establishing their gardens and learning how to cook with seasonal produce.
Almost 60 people, including children, now work on the gardens, which produce seasonal fruit and vegetables. The communities grow cabbage, carrots and kale during the winter months and lettuce, rocket, spinach, pumpkin and corn during summer. Figs, mulberries, oranges and lemons are also grown in the gardens.
The Merne Murde Project, which means ‘Good Food’, has been running since 2010 and has made a noticeable impact on residents in the communities. People learn about vitamins and minerals in fresh produce and their health benefits, for example eating iron-rich spinach to help address anaemia.
Since the project commenced, families have started adding fresh herbs to their bolognaise and children are encouraged to participate in cooking. The garden has harvested silver beet and kale which is used in meals and families are sourcing their own seeds to plant tomatoes, and even using a kale leaf to wrap around a sausage for a healthy hot dog.
In addition to health benefits, the program offers work experience opportunities in the Homelands. Through joint funding with My Pathway (Remote Jobs and Communities Program), people are employed to harvest the community gardens’ fruit and vegetables, maintain the gardens and replant as the season changes.
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Dr Nina Sandford has returned to her roots in the Northern Territory
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Students share experiences and gain insight through the Rural High School Visits
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As a Year 10 student at Darwin High School, Nina Sandford knew she wanted to study medicine.
But it wasn’t until the NT Rural High School Visits Program came to her school that she considered working as a doctor in a remote or rural area.
The NT Rural High School Visits Program brings six university students from across the NT and interstate who are studying a health discipline to talk to Territory high school students about their journey to become a health practitioner. The students are selected for their dedication, passion and their own inspiring journey to share with the high school students.
Nina, who was born in Alice Springs, moved around Australia with her family as a young child before settling in Darwin for her high school years. She studied medicine through an undergraduate pathway at Flinders Medical School in Adelaide and after six years, graduated to work as an intern at the Royal Darwin Hospital.
“In my second year I did the Rural Visits Program and came back to my old high school, and I knew I wanted to come back and work in the NT,” Nina said.
“It was amazing to come back to Darwin High School and encourage students to think about a career in health. For me, it made it more real and I realised the opportunities you get working in rural and remote health.”
The program involves students being faced with a real life health incident, as well as hands on practice with medical procedures, before identifying and discussing how to overcome the barriers to health sector careers.
The success of the NT Rural High School Visits Program is twofold as it introduces students to the health sector while promoting rural and remote areas of the NT as a place to work for university students training to become health practitioners.
NT PHN has run the program in 18 high schools across the Territory for the past 16 years. In the last six years alone, 75 per cent of the university students who participate in the program have returned to work in remote and rural areas in the NT – and lucky for the Territory, Dr Nina Sandford was one of them.
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Above: Central Australia Clinical Council Liason Officer, Sarena Ruediger and Community Council Liaison Officer, Greg Henschke
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Councils guide and shape health service priorities
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Three councils representing NT communities are working with NT PHN’s Board to plan the delivery of targeted and localised health care.
Most recently, NT PHN’s Clinical Councils provided input at a local level for PHN staff about the NT rollout of the Federal Government’s Healthcare Homes initiative, which provides a health clinic base for chronically ill patients that enables ongoing central coordination, management and support of their conditions. The three Councils also helped prioritise the burden of illness in their communities for the NT PHN 2016 Baseline Needs Assessment by identifying emerging needs in health, such as mental health and supporting people with disabilities.
NT PHN’s Community Advisory Council has nine members who represent their communities, as well as different medical and social needs. Members are drawn from Central Australia, Katherine, Top End and Barkly regions and bring a wealth of experience in different sectors, including: people with disabilities, mental health, chronic disease, community health, community services, government, and Indigenous health in urban and remote areas.
NT PHN has also established a Top End Clinical Council and a Central Australian Clinical Council. Members have a wide range of clinical and medical backgrounds and include General Practitioners (GPs), allied health professionals, remote area nurses, psychologists and Aboriginal health workers.
The Councils guide NT PHN on health initiatives from a clinical and community perspective. To date, they have provided feedback on the Health Care Homes, National Medical Benefit Scheme Review, mental health and other drugs, NT PHN 2016 Baseline Needs Assessment and the Practice Incentive Program.
The Clinical Councils have also raised emerging issues to discuss at their quarterly meetings in 2017. These issues include maternity care pathways, training, interface between hospital and primary care providers and nutrition in remote communities.
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Health Service District Maps
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NT PHN, with assistance from the NT Department of Health, have recently created two map resources showing the Territory's regions and health landscape to inform ongoing planning.
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NT PHN Strategic Plan
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View the NT PHN 2015–18 Strategic Plan which demonstrates our strategic intent and direction.
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Copyright © 2016 Northern Territory PHN. All rights reserved.
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Northern Territory PHN provides this publication as a free information service to subscribers and does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of third party information or for advice regarding external activities.
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Health Network Northern Territory Ltd operating as Northern Territory PHN
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Darwin
23 Albatross Street, 0822
Darwin PO Box 2562, 0801
t 08 8982 1000
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Alice Springs
Remote Health Precinct, 5 Skinner Street, 0870
Alice Springs PO Box 1195, 0870
t 08 8950 4800
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ABN 17 158 970 480
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