Quality Improvement
Our Quality Improvement focus over the next few months is looking at increasing our uptake of Influenza Immunisations amongst our patients.
Influenza
Statistics show 63.4% of our eligible patients took up the free vaccine under the National Immunisation Program in the 2024 program.
People eligible under the NIP include :
- Children aged between 6 months and 5 years
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
- Pregnant women
- Eligible health conditions (see staff)
- People over the age of 65 years
Influenza is a common viral infection that affects people of all ages. While it may be a mild disease for some, it can also cause serious illness and even lead to hospitalisation in otherwise healthy people. Vaccination, administered annually by a health professional, is the safest means of protection from influenza.
The strains of the virus circulating cah change yearly, therefore annual updates to the vaccine are required making it important to get vaccinated every year. The Influenza vaccine has been around for many decades and has a great safety record.
Everyone over the age of 6 months are recommmended to receive an influenza vaccine each year.
Please discuss this with your Doctor to determine whether you qualify for free vaccine under the National Immunisation Program. If you are not eligible for a free vaccine you can buy the vaccine for a small cost.
Continuous Improvement Statement
We thrive to improve our quality of service and access to medical care for our community. Our most recent improvements include:
Quality Improvement - We identified that we had a large number of patients that are eligible for a health assessment or GPMP. To successfully improve this, we employed two new chronic disease nurses and nominated one of our receptionists to be our Health Assessment coordinator responsible for bookings etc.
In 2023 we undertook an osteoporosis quality improvement through Reframe Osteoporosis Bone Bus. The plan was to identify and recall patients at risk of osteoporotic fractures on the search list and commence appropriate treatment for patients diagnosed with osteoporosis.
This was very successful, and we will recommence this again in 2024.
Doctors – We continue to maintain the number of doctors at the practice, including 12 doctors and one registrar. We will have 2 new registrars joining the practice from July 2024.
Education
Plans are in place to organise training for our team including customer service elements.
Updated website
We have redesigned our website to become more attractive to the prospective appointment of GPs and registrars, optimizing the opportunity to recruit.
This is an ongoing project.
Computers – Consulting rooms now have dual computer monitor screens for ease of use and increased productivity.
Telephones
A new cloud-based phone system has been purchased. This phone system has helped to create a more flexible and efficient workflow for reception and includes an automated call logging system.
Theatre Equipment - Equipment and upgrades
We have a doctor that is very interest in Skin Procedures and eventually we would like to be able to run more of a skin clinic.
We have a dedicated theatre room for Removal of Lesions and small procedures. We currently run 3 procedure clinics per week
We are currently improving our waiting room to reflect a calming environment by updating the paint and adding some additional plants. We have listened to our patient feedback and have removed our “Church Pew” in the nurse waiting area and replaced it with waiting room chairs.
