September 2016

When I became RACGP President just over two years ago, I wrote: It is a complex and crowded health environment with increasing risks of care fragmentation. GPs are the expert generalists and general practice must be front and central in any health discourse. Promoting and refining brand GP and brand RACGP is critical. Our college needs to be the ‘go-to’ place for all things general practice. The RACGP should have a presence in each consult a GP makes, bringing guidance and guidelines on all clinical aspects of patient care. The RACGP should a...

Book your day  registrations  for the profession’s most important conference of the year. 

The RACGP, in conjunction with Diabetes Australia, has launched their revised guidelines designed to support GPs and help them diagnose and manage type 2 diabetes more effectively. General practice management of type 2 diabetes – 2016–18  is free to download on the  RACGP  and  Diabetes Australia websites. Copies of the guidelines will be distributed to RACGP members, endocrinologists and diabetes educators across Australia.

The Practice Based Assessment Pathway pilot program will begin in 2017. This new pathway replaces the former Practice Based Assessment (PBA) and has been developed in response to a comprehensive review and consultation process. Interested candidates can begin the application process by accessing the Eligibility Self-Assessment tool on the  RACGP website . Applications for the Practice Based Assessment Pathway will close on Friday 30 September.

The National Transport Commission and Austroads are pleased to announce the release of  Assessing Fitness to Drive 2016 , a new edition of national medical standards for driver licensing which will come into effect on 1 October. A detailed discussion of the changes is included in the publication’s project report, which can be  downloaded from the Austroads  website.

Painless, progressive weakness –  Could this be motor neurone disease? Motor neurone disease (MND), a progressive and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disease, is often difficult to clinically diagnose. There is no single investigation specific to MND and no sensitive disease-specific biomarker. Diagnosis is based on symptoms, clinical findings and the results of electrodiagnostic, neuroimaging and laboratory studies. Rapid and accurate diagnosis is crucial to ensuring the needs of people living with MND are met from the earliest possible stage. ...

ePIP Shared Health Summary upload targets The RACGP has surveyed members over the past three weeks in order to establish how many practices will achieve the mandated Shared Health Summary (SHS) upload target for the July quarter to remain eligible for Practice Incentives Program eHealth (ePIP) payment. While the majority of respondents indicated they were confident that they would achieve their SHS upload targets (56%), a significant number (17%) indicated they would not achieve their targets and a further 13% said they are no longer participating ...

The Medical Board of Australia’s (MBA) August interim discussion paper on revalidation had several parallels with the work the RACGP had already undertaken to strengthen continued professional development (CPD) for general practice. The 2017–19 Quality Improvement and Continuing Professional Development (QI & CPD) continues our approach of providing opportunities for GPs to reflect on their current knowledge and skill base, and make appropriate determinations on possible improvements in accord with their patient needs and that of their own professio...