The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is seeking input on new draft Standards for general practice residential aged care (Standards for GPRAC).
A first of their kind, the voluntary Standards aim to improve patient care and remove the barriers GPs face when delivering crucial care in this setting.
RACGP President Dr Harry Nespolon said that the opening of the consultation period for the Standards came at an auspicious time.
“The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality Safety demonstrated once again that providing clinical care for older people isn’t easy and that improvements are needed.
“Many GPs have contacted the RACGP expressing concerns about the challenges of working in the sector. They want the best for their patients and believe much more can be done to help support and enhance the quality and safety of GP care in aged care.”
The President said that the Standards focus on the clinical interface and systems required to support the provision of high quality care in RAC facilities.
“The Standards don’t seek to replace existing requirements for aged care accreditation, instead they focus on the elements not covered which impact on patient care. These include resident care coordination, equipment and infrastructure, information and medication management.”
“In 2018-19 alone GPs provided over 5.5 million Medicare services in residential aged care facilities, so we need to ensure that GPs have the right systems and infrastructure in place to deliver the best patient care.
“However, as things stand there is no set of aged care standards that support GP care in the aged care sector.
“That must change now and this is why we are developing these Standards. The health of our older people and the capacity of our GPs to give them the best quality healthcare is too important for a gap such as this to exist.”
Dr Louise Acland, Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee – Standards for General Practices and Chair of the Standards for GPRAC Working Group, said that the Standards would help improve resident access to primary healthcare services.
“These Standards were developed to specifically address the barriers which limit the capacity of GPs to provide the best possible standard of care.
“For example, there are sometimes cases where a resident is admitted or discharged from hospital without notifying the patient’s regular GP. It’s vital that when this occurs all relevant information is communicated to the resident’s regular GP so that they can follow up with the resident. Making sure the right processes are in place can make a huge difference.”
The opening of the consultation period for the Standards for GPRAC follows the recent launch of the RACGP aged care clinical guide (Silver Book), a go to guide for the complex care of older people.
The draft Standards for GPRAC are open for external stakeholder consultation until 5 November 2019.
As part of the consultation process you can provide your input on the consultation page.