Thursday, March 11, 2010

GP Hospital Liaison

Working with Eastern and St Vincent’s Health networks the GP & Hospital Liaison program aims to improve local service planning, timely and appropriate exchange of patient health information and integration of care for patients, families and communities.

Organisations participating in the Project: Melbourne East GP Network, Knox Division of General Practice (auspice agency), Eastern Ranges GP Association, Eastern Health Hospital network (consisting of Box Hill, Maroondah & Angliss hospitals, Peter James Centre, Wantirna Health and Healesville).

GP Representation
A GP consultant presents GP issues at various hospital committees & meetings including GP/Hospital Liaison Committee Meetings held at St Vincent’s Health and Eastern Health sites.

Compliments and complaints
If there are any issues with Eastern Health or St Vincent’s Health that you would like investigated, please contact the GP Liaison Officer to discuss.

What’s On Offer?

The GP Network is working to deliver:

GP credentialing within Eastern Health hospitals with scope of practice in:
• Maternity shared care
• Hospital in the Home & Residential in-reach
• Fracture management
• Mental health shared care
• Palliative shared care

Collaboration between health services and GP shared care providers:
• Provision of GP education to improve skills and confidence in maternity care
• Increase GP participation in maternity shared care at Birralee

Streamlined and improved discharge and referral protocols and information exchange with Emergency Departments
• Encouraging GPs to use of the Victorian State-wide Referral Form (VSRF)
• Investigating the GP role in emergency management
• Providing an emergency training rotation for GPs
• Exploring establishment of a GP registrar training attachment to a hospital generalist medical unit.

Shared Care arrangements with Outpatients/subacute care
• Provision of GP education to improve skills and confidence in fracture management
• Establishment of a GP clinical attachment and fracture clinic for the treatment of uncomplicated fractures

High quality communication between general practice and the acute sector
• Regular education sessions facilitated by GPs for new Interns and HMOs, where GP issues are raised including the importance of “EFFECTIVE” communication via discharge summaries
• Providing electronic referral templates to GPs for both Box Hill and St Vincent’s Hospitals.
• Maintaining useful service and waiting list information on the GP Network, St Vincent’s and Eastern Health websites
• Auditing quality of communication tools and processes including discharge summaries and referrals from GPs
• Following up complaints from GPs regarding communication and patient management.