Clinical and practice management

The impact of climate change on human health

Climate change resulting from human activity is affecting our relationship with our environment and presents an urgent, significant and growing threat to health worldwide

Voluntary assisted dying legislation

The RACGP supports patient centred decisions in end-of-life care and respect that this may include palliative care and requests for voluntary assisted dying

Obesity prevention and management

General practice has a significant role in the prevention of management of obesity. This role should be supported by increased funding for evidenced based services and therapies and greater investment into research

Identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients in general practice

Further work is required in training staff how to ask the identification question and supporting them with information that provides the rationale for this process

The role of general practice in the provision of healthcare to children and young adults

The RACGP advocates for the coordination of all resources and services to optimise child health and development

Improving primary care provision to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have the right to be provided with clinically and culturally appropriate healthcare wherever they present

Maternity care in general practice

The RACGP recognises that GPs are an integral part of providing holistic and collaborative care during all phases of the antenatal and postnatal periods

Advance care planning should be incorporated into routine general practice

This position statement outlines what advance care planning is and the reasons why the College believes it should be incorporated into routine general practice

Non-GP initiated testing

Clear and agreed systems for receiving and following-up on test results are needed to ensure safe and effective continuity of patient care

Responding to patient requests for tests not considered clinically appropriate

The RACGPs position for patient requests for tests that are not considered clinically appropriate

Advanced skills in rural general practice

RACGP National Rural Faculty strongly advocates for the expansion of current policy and funding to support rural GPs in acquiring and maintaining the full range of advanced skills

Supporting the next generation to ensure a future rural general practice workforce

To secure a strong general practice workforce for the future more needs to be done to ensure locally trained graduates are retained for the local workforce

The use of secure electronic communication within the health care system

Secure electronic communication should be the preferred and default method of communication of all health services and government agencies communicating with general practice regarding patients

The use of chaperones in general practice

A chaperone is an observer to a consultation between a GP and a patient who should be, wherever possible, impartial

Use of medicinal cannabis products

GPs are faced with the pressing need to help patients manage chronic and debilitating conditions, with chronic pain affecting approximately one in five people

Mental health care in general practice

The RACGP believes that a patient-centred medical home model establishes the conditions for optimal mental health care

Too much medicine

The RACGP has developed this statement to outline our position in supporting optimal medicine

Point of care testing

Evidence based point of care testing (PoCT) should be accessible via general practice through Medicare and unnecessary regulatory barriers to its adoption in general practice should be removed

My health record

The Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) was introduced in 2012 and renamed My Health Record in 2016

Integrated rural training hubs

The RACGP welcomes the Australian Government’s strategy to support rural medical training nationally through the creation of 30 regional training hub sites as part of its IRTP strategy

Provision of mental health services in rural Australia

RACGP Rural strongly advocates for policies that provide supportive structures to enable the required service integration to facilitate quality GP-led patient-centred mental healthcare in rural and remote communities