GPpartners

Name GPpartners Division Number 405 Classification Urban Number of Member GPs 732 (as at November 2004) State Queensland Year Established 1993 Number of Member Practices 213 (as at November 2004) Postcodes Covered 4000, 4001, 4002, 4003, 4004, 4005, 4006, 4007, 4008, 4009, 4010, 4011, 4012, 4013, 4014, 4017, 4018, 4029, 4030, 4031, 4032, 4034, 4035, 4036, 4037, 4051, 4052, 4052, 4053, 4054, 4055, 4059, 4060, 4061, 4064, 4065, 4066, 4067, 4068, 4069, 4070, 4072, 4500, 4501, 4502, 4503, 4509, 4520, 4521 Population 522,765 (2001 Census) Area Covered The Divison is bordered by the Brisbane river to the south, and includes all suburbs north of the river including the Pine Rivers Shire, east to Moreton Bay, and west to Bellbowrie. View map at www.bndgp.com.au/bndgpmap.htm CEO Ms Anne McGill Chair Dr Henry Bryan Physical Address: Suite 2, Level 1 520 Lutwyche Road LUTWYCHE QLD 4030 Australia Postal Address: PO Box 845 LUTWYCHE QLD 4030 Australia Email: info@gppartners.com.au Phone: 07 3630 7300 Fax: 07 3630 7333 Website: http://www.gppartners.com.au

Brisbane North Division of General Practice is an association run by GPs for GPs. We are a leading provider of information, training and resources for General Practice.

Brisbane North Division is one of the largest Divisions of General Practice.

Our mission
We are a significant general practice network shaping health delivery by:

1. Creating a better way of doing business in general practice.
2. Building on the good in the current system.
3. Designing a viable contemporary system of general practice.
4. Systematically linking with and influencing the wider environment and system.

Major Achievements:

• The Division successfully implemented a practice visiting strategy. Practice Liaison Officers were allocated to five territories within the Division. In the first year, Liaison Officers contacted all 200+ practices offering 'introductory visits' to overview what the division has to offer.
  Liaison Officers now visit practices when invited on a range of issues (e.g. accreditation, cold chain and immunisation issues, sterilisation, billing systems, MBS items, etc).
• The Division recently launched Medical Assisting - a new qualification for staff working in general practice. The aim has been to develop a nationally-recognised and standardised training qualification, the graduates of which will be equipped to perform the wide range of administrative and clinical assisting tasks required in a medical practice. For information about Medical Assisting www.bndgp.com.au/medicalassisting.htm
• Governance - Major review of strategic and business planning processes
• The Division has had for several years an active Consumer Panel, which provides input into the development and delivery of Division initiatives.
• The Division has been successful in securing a number of project contracts, including: 2nd round Coordinated Care Trial (Team Care Health II); Brisbane MIND (mental health project); Home Medicines Review facilitation; EDQUM; Aged GP Panels Initiative; National Prescribing Service program ; InfoTools; EDoX (electronic information exchange). See Summary of Programs & Projects for details.

Highlights 2003/2004:

• 416 GPs joined the Division as financial members in 2003/2004.
• Requests for National Prescribing Service educational visits at an all time high - 368 GPs visited.
• Division staff made 1003 visits to practices. 91% of practices received a visit.
• 88 professional development activities and events available to GPs. Total of 689 attendances.
• 31 professional development activities and events available to practice staff. Total of 229 attendances.
• 58 GPs directly involved in governing and managing the Division.
• 185 GPs active in the Team Care Health II coordinated care trial. 91% of the original target of 3000 patients reached.
• Online Brisbane Docs 4 Docs Register launched. Almost 40 GPs listed as willing to have other doctors as patients.
• 82% practising GPs listed on the GP Register, which is distributed to 27 hospitals and agencies.
• 9 practices recruited to work with the Division to trial a standardised IT system for General Practice and develop tools for General Practice.
• New practice and business management resources released - Accreditation Value Pack, Risk Management Toolkit, General Practice HR Guide. Accreditation Value Pack launched nationally and endorsed by AGPAL.
• Brisbane North Primary Health Care liaison group established and developed communication pathway to enhance communication with primary care services.
• 19 small group learning modules on managing chronic disease developed by Team Care Health II. Expected national launch late 2004 with support of the Department of Health & Ageing.
• New 'primary care service profiles' launched with aim of providing easy access to relevant service information for GPs and practice staff. Nine released to-date.
• General Practice IT Forum hosted June 2004. More than 140 attend. 13 major software and hardware vendors participated.
• New Maternity Shared Care GP Liaison position instituted.
• 11% increase in number of GPs consenting to be on the Maternity Shared Care Register.
• Acute Medical Assessment Clinic established at Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital, initiated by Team Care Health II.
• DIS - web-based customer database developed and in use. Adopted by two Division State Based Organisations and six other Divisions of General Practice.
• Significant funding from Queensland Health to facilitate integration with general practice, e.g. RBWH Service Integration Project, Medication Breakthrough Collaborative, Alcohol & Drug Services communication audit, North Lakes Chronic Disease Initiative.
  View our 2003/2004 Annual Report at www.bndgp.com.au/publications.htm
  

Past projects:

• Residential Care Project (Completed May 2002)
• Developing a Model of General Practice Appropriate to Indigenous Clients (Completed March 2002)
• Maternity Shared Care Review project (Completed February 2002)
• Building on Quality (Completed July 2001)
• GP Promotion campaign (2000)
• Enhancing Multidisciplinary Care for Women with Breast Cancer: A Pilot Study (May 2002)
• TEAMCare Health Coordinated Care Trial (September 2000)
• Smoking Cessation Consultation project (Completed July 2000)
• Consumer Market Research (Completed June 2000)
• Sustaining Good Governance (Completed June 2000)
• Diabetes Detection Study (Completed June 2000)
• GP Health & Wellbeing: The issues explored (Completed January 2000)
• Women's Cancer Screening project (Completed August 1999)

Challenges for the Future:
Brisbane North Division  has faced a series of challenges over the past three years:

• GP participation in Continuing Professional Development and activities.
• Providing business and IM/IT support to GP members and practices.
• Measuring the impact of our programs and developing systems to measure impact.
• Linking investment of resources (i.e. budget allocation and staff) to outcomes in each program (i.e. sound performance management).
• Retaining GPs involved in delivery of Divisions work.
• Retaining staff with often unpredictable and variable funding.
• Limited legacies for our members and the broader healthcare environment from short term projects.

From internal and external analysis, the Division sees the challenges for the coming three years as:

1. Funding and growth.
2. Role clarity.
3. Communication - two-way with members/stakeholders.
4. Workforce - GP numbers, practice team.
5. Evaluation and quality measurement - at GP, practice and Division level.
6. Product and service segmenting and prioritising.

Page Updated: December 2004

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