The Improvement Foundation is currently seeking expressions of interest for local and virtual waves of the Australian Primary Care Collaboratives (APCC) Program. To find out more, click here. The Improvement Foundation is launching an Australian Primary Care Collaboratives (APCC) Program ‘Closing the Gap’ local wave. This local wave has been specifically designed to support health services to improve access to services and health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This exciting initiative is being launched in Queensland with interest expressed by 10 Divisions, who plan on supporting approximately 50 health services. IF is working towards expanding this Program nationally and is currently in early discussions with the Victorian State Based Organisation. For more information about the Closing the Gap local wave, click here. The Improvement Foundation, through the Australian Primary Care Collaboratives (APCC) Program, has expanded its focus beyond chronic disease management through the introduction of a Chronic Disease Prevention & Self Management (CDPSM) topic. The CDPSM topic is an exciting new addition to the APCC Program and is the first Collaborative internationally to address this topic. Eighty nine Australian health services are participating in the first Collaborative wave which is being held in Brisbane, Queensland. To read the full release, click here. "To begin with the APCC work seemed daunting and too difficult to accomplish... However, it taught us to THINK about what we were doing and how we were delivering our healthcare. We soon saw gaps that were making our jobs unnecessarily complicated." Click here to read more. Top Tips – Ideas from COPD & CDPSM Wave (5) Learning Workshop 2
Patient ideas from ‘A3 & B3 – Creative approaches to behaviour change’ · Look at the patient holistically. · Visit pubs/sporting matches with clinical team to encourage Men’s health checks’. Delegate ideas from ‘C2 & D2 – Approaches to smoking cessation’ · SMS reminder for patient appointments. · The smoke check program and smoking cessation tool (resources available at http://www.quitsa.org.au/aspx/order_online.aspx). · It is important not to intimidate a patient; they need to feel comfortable enough to return even if they fail to cease smoking. · Identify and act on the particular stage of the cycle of smoking cessation of a patient. · Enrol family as a support network strategy for smoking cessation. Don’t forget about the APCC Virtual Tabletops on the website. As a practice, you can come to the ‘table’ to share your ideas, experiences and improvement how-tos with others. Not only can you share your own ideas and suggestions, but through the Virtual Tabletop page, you can discuss, ask questions and offer suggestions on other tabletops! Please feel free to join one of the 'virtual tabletops' to comment on these stories, and indicate how you might adapt or extend these ideas to use in your own practice. We'll be posting stories regularly, so stay tuned... If you’d like to send in a new ‘story’ or ‘tabletop’ please send your story to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). A recent addition to the portal under the ‘My Health Service’ tab is the ‘Data Submission’ indicator on the right hand side. This tells the CPM and the practice when their last data submission was made.
The indicator works by looking at the date that the practice data was extracted (in the case of the Canning and Pen CAT tools); or the date that it was submitted using the manual measures entry form. By using this data submission indicator, you can identify when the practice last submitted their data. During data submission days, a CPM can cycle through their list of practices and quickly see who has submitted data and who has not. The Improvement Foundation welcomes four new staff members to the Adelaide head office. David Cresp and Kristian Pepe will now be helping out with the web portal and any data and IT issues, as the ICT (Information Communication & Technology) Support Officers, John Loy is working part time in accounts and Michelle Murray will be assisting the communications team. Expressions of Interest for Local and Virtual Waves
How would you like to be involved in a Program that’s full of ideas on how to achieve improved health outcomes for your patients, by helping you build a stronger team and enhancing your health service’s operations and efficiency?
Closing the Gap
NEW Media Release: Improvement Foundation – pioneering chronic disease prevention
NEW Case study: Using Information management to improve diabetes care, Platinum Medical Centre
Virtual Tabletops
Improvement to the web portal
Welcome to new staff at IF
