MP and Senator show their support for the APCC Program and Prospect Medical Centre in Tasmania

On Tuesday 30 November 2010 Prospect Medical Centre hosted a luncheon and tour with their local Senator, Helen Polley and Member for Parliament, Geoff Lyons. Prospect Medical Centre is currently participating in the national Diabetes, CHD and Access & Care Redesign wave of the APCC Program.

Diabetes Prevention & Management wave to commence in Sydney

In November 2010, the Improvement Foundation (IF) launched a new wave of the APCC Program, targeting New South Wales health services. The Diabetes Prevention & Management wave has now met the recruitment target of health services, with additional Divisions outside of NSW also showing interest. The wave will kick off with a state-based learning workshop on Saturday March 5 in Sydney, and will be delivered using a new and innovative workshop format. For more information about the wave, please visit http://www.apcc.org.au/getting_involved/.

Printing Attendance Certificates from the Web Portal

The web portal has recently integrated a ‘My Events’ section, which can be found on the My Health Service 'Dashboard' page, once you've logged in.

Participants at past state and national wave learning workshops can view the events they have attended and also print out attendance certificates for these workshops. This functionality will also be available to attendees of upcoming national and state waves.

GP Plus Practice Nurse Initiative

The second and final learning workshop of the GP Plus Practice Nurse Initiative Program was held on Wednesday 16 February at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide. This South Australia Health funded program involves 24 general practices across 5 metropolitan Divisions in South Australia, and supports the up-skilling and advanced role of nurses working in general practice. The program is being managed by the Adelaide North East DGP and is supported by IF.

Like the first workshop, the success of this event was again reflected in participant feedback forms, with an overall event satisfaction rating of 79%. Positive comments from participants included;

"All falling into place and already focused but even more so now.  Keep going! The beginning of a new movement"

"Very good overall, I still need more quality education seminars like this one".

"The breakout sessions are excellent, feedback from practices was that they wanted to attend them all!" 

Monthly reporting is showing steady improvement across all topic measures since data collection commenced in September 2010.

For more information about this program or to discuss how the IF can support your Division to deliver a collaborative program, please contact Sarah on (08) 8422 7466.

Free Web Demonstrations for Pen Computing Systems PrimaryCare Sidebar

Users of the PrimaryCare Sidebar® are invited to access free online demonstrations of the tool.

The online demonstrations are conducted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 12.00 - 1.00pm Sydney Eastern Daylight Time.

All you will need to access the demonstration is a PC or laptop with internet access and a telephone. The demonstration will talk you through the features of the PrimaryCare Sidebar® and also give you the opportunity to ask questions. 

1.        Visit https://racgp.webex.com/mw0306lb/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=racgp

2.        Then under 'Attend a Meeting', when prompted, enter your guest details plus:
Meeting number: 863903177
Meeting password: Sidebar123 

3.        From your telephone, please dial 1800 173 224

4.        Input Guest pin number: 503033  

For more information please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 1800 284 789 or visit their website www.primarycaresidebar.com.au

Appointments - Getting it right

Dr Andrew Knight and Dr Tony Lembke have written an article on access and care redesign through the APCC Program, which was recently published by Australian Family Physician.

Featuring examples of improvements made by a number of APCC participants, the article shares lessons from the APCC Program that can help health services improve appointment scheduling. It describes steps taken to improve control of scheduling by measuring demand, capacity and delay.

To read the full article click here. 

Heart Foundation National Conference 2011

Heart to Heart: from Access to Action
The Heart Foundation's 2011 Conference, ‘Heart to Heart: from Access to Action’, will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on 17-19 March 2011. The conference will host leading international and Australian presenters to showcase key clinical, research and public health perspectives on cardiovascular disease.

Principal Clinical Advisor of the Improvement Foundation, Dr Dale Ford will be presenting at the conference on Saturday 19 March. Dr Ford will discuss the APCC Program and how it applies the principles of quality improvement to improve the processes of care, patient outcomes and the experience of care.