Murray PHN eNews #74 | Bowel Cancer Awareness Month
Edition 74 | Bowel Cancer Awareness Month
Queen's Birthday Honours
Murray PHN congratulates Liz Chapman, our Goulburn Valley Regional Advisory Council Coordinator for being awarded with the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) over the long weekend.
Liz was recognised for her long service to education, and to the community. Most recently, Liz has helped to establish the Tomorrow Today Foundation in Benalla - a community foundation formed and run by local people to create a stronger, more resilient and prosperous community.
Other recipients of Queen's Birthday Honours in our region, who we would also like to congratulate, include:
Dr Scott Giltrap of Albury for service to medicine, particularly in regional areas.
Daniel Giles of Bendigo for service to people with a disability, and to the community.
Brian King of Bright for service to community health.
Dr Sanati Pour of Mildura for service to medicine as a general practitioner.
Eighteen secondary schools to get a doctor
We are working with the Department of Education and Training and local secondary schools who have been selected to participate in the Victorian Government's $43.8m Doctors in Secondary Schools initiative.
We are now seeking expressions of interest from general practices and medical centres who are willing to partner with us to provide primary care for students for up to one day a week in the next 18 schools. The schools include rural areas such as: Alexandra, Kerang,Numurkah,Seymour, Benalla, Rutherglen, Robinvale and Swan Hill.
Expressions of interest are now on TenderSearch until Monday 26 June. Only registered users will be able to download tender documents and respond to tender opportunities. Click here for more details.
Pictured Kyneton's GPs in Secondary Schools set-up.
The big bowel is coming to Albury
As part of Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, Murray PHN is making it possible for the Albury and surrounding community to visit the big bowel and go on a free interactive journey to learn more about bowel cancerprevention.
Where/when: Friday 23 June from 10am-2pm QEII square, Dean Street Albury
Our partners Hume RICS and BreastScreen NSW, along with other health professionals will be available on the day to speak with and to discuss all things health. Click here for a copy of the flyer.
The big bowel is also visiting Bendigo and Shepparton. Click here for more details
Murray HealthPathways update
Over 900 health professionals have been involved in clinical working groups since the beginning of Murray HealthPathways, helping to localise a total of 91 pathways.
The following pathways were localised for health professionals during May. Note you must be registered and logged into access. Click here to request access.
More males suffer from lifestyle-related health conditions than females at the same age and yet are less likely to seek medical help. The theme of this year's Men's Health Week (12-18 June) is 'healthy body - healthy mind: keeping the balance' and aims to explore the different ways men and boys are managing to keep healthy, physically and emotionally, in a busy and sometimes challenging world.
The organisers of Men's Health Week have put together four guides that have been developed to help health services and practitioners better understand how and why a male-specific approach towards men's and boys' health is recommended.
PSA testing guidelines for primary care cancer
Clinical practice guidelines for PSA testing and early management of test-detected prostate cancer, is the culmination of a collaborative effort involving urologists, general practitioners, pathologists and epidemiologists.
The National Health and Medical Research Council approved guidelines aim to reduce the inconsistency in approach to PSA testing in Australia. This includes indiscriminate ordering of tests without fully explaining the benefits and harms of testing. The RACGP endorsed the guidelines advising general practitioners to inform their patients about the risks and benefits of PSA testing prior to testing using an acceptable decision aid tool.
The Second Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation release preventable hospitalisations
The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare has released the Second Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation. The landmark new report shows large variations in the provision of common health treatments across the country, and gives health experts and clinicians valuable new information to help more patients get the most effective and appropriate care.
The Atlas found almost half (47 per cent) of the nation's preventable hospitalisations in 2015-15 were associated with COPD, diabetes complications, heart failure, cellulitis,kidney and urinary tract infections. It includes the Commission's recommendations for action across the health system to address these and other issues.
COPD Exacerbation Awareness - Have the CHAT campaign COPD
Lung Foundation Australia's winter campaign, Have the CHAT, encourages people living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) to stay well and out of hospital. It's a great opportunity to remind your patients about the symptoms of an exacerbation, including:
Coughing more than usual
Harder to breathe than usual
Any change in sputum colour and/or volume
Tired more than usual
COPD is the second leading cause of preventable hospitalisations in Australia. Each exacerbation does long-term damage. Click here for more details.
Murray PHN events Networking events
The Centre for Excellence in Rural Sexual Health (CERESH), the Royal Women's Hospital and Murray PHN are organising a Clinical Network around medical termination of pregnancy. The network relates to the clinical care and pathways for women experiencing unintended pregnancy and abortion in rural Victoria. Click here for more information and to RSVP.
RSVPs still open for the following Murray CPD events, register:
The full Murray PHN CPD events calendar includes: breast and cervical screening, cultural appreciation, youth mental health, CPR, dual diagnosis, motivational interviewing, brief interventions, dementia screening, palliative care, paediatrics and immunisation.
Assisted Registration is a way for you to help individuals register for a My Health Record. You do this by submitting their details to the My Health Record System Operator (System Operator) using compatible software. When you do this, you are also confirming that you have checked their identity and obtained their consent to being registered and having their health information uploaded to their My Health Record. If successful, the individual will be registered almost immediately and you will be able to upload clinical information about the individual to their My Health Record straight away.
A healthcare provider organisation providing Assisted Registration does not do so as an agent of the System Operator.
Any person who is 14 years or older who wants to register themselves and/or their child under 18 years old can register through Assisted Registration. An adult who does not have capacity cannot be registered through Assisted Registration (this means that a person acting on behalf of someone over 18 who does not have capacity cannot register them through Assisted Registration).
Individuals can register through these other channels: