DH and RACGP Victoria webinar - Specialist Care Reform and Syphilis Update
On-demand recorded 27 Nov 2025
The webinar begins with an update on Specialist Care Reform in Victoria, covering the reform program, emerging ideas, and changes to the Statewide Referral Criteria to support smoother referral pathways. This will be presented by Prof Ben Thomson, Victorian Chief Surgical Advisor. Next is a Syphilis Update, including local epidemiology, best practice diagnosis and management, and updated maternal screening recommendations. This will be presented by Dr Dilanka Hettiarachchi, Public Health Medicine Registrar and GP, and Dr Christian McGrath, Victorian Deputy Chief Health Officer.
Learning outcomes
- Describe the current structure of specialist care in Victoria and outline the aims of the Specialist Care Reform program.
- Identify key emerging reform ideas and explain their potential impacts on general practice and patient care.
- Summarise recent updates to the Statewide Referral Criteria and apply these changes to clinical referral pathways.
- Interpret current syphilis epidemiological trends in Victoria and recognise priority populations at increased risk.
- Implement best practice approaches to the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of syphilis in general practice.
- Implement updated maternal syphilis screening recommendations into antenatal care.
- Identify relevant training and professional development opportunities to support ongoing practice improvement.
- Implement updated maternal syphilis screening recommendations into antenatal care.
- Identify relevant training and professional development opportunities to support ongoing practice improvement.
This event is part of Department of Health Victoria and RACGP Victoria - Quarterly update webinar series. Events in this series are:
Host
Dr Aadhil Aziz
‘Treating my patients like family. Wise words from an old master, which I practice daily’. With experience from 4 continents in medicine (Medical, Surgical, Emergency, ICU medicine, volunteer work and General Practice), Aadhil Aziz is uniquely positioned and a part of the revolution to make the world a better place - and a huge proponent of, genuinely, ‘Universal Healthcare’.
A pre-covid advocate of telemedicine and its benefits and limitations on how to help spread health awareness even further.
He is also business owner of a GP clinic as well as the newly elected Chair of the New Fellows Committee of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
Aadhil has a broad interest in General Practice - ranging from Mental Health to Chronic and Complex Disease management, Obesity and musculoskeletal, women’s health and skin cancers medicine as well as interests in adult and paediatric medicine.
He pays a special interest in ‘paying it forward’.. often staying back to help patients in need.. so that they may in turn, one day, help someone else.
Speaker
Dr Christian McGrath
Deputy Chief Health Officer, Victorian Department of Health
Dr Christian McGrath is a general and infectious diseases physician with extensive experience in multidisciplinary health environments. He has additional skills in education, journalism and science. Christian has over a decade of experience in clinical infectious diseases and public health management. He has statewide experience leading in both a Pandemic environment (in the Department of Health, COVID Quarantine Victoria, North Eastern Public Health Unit) and essential business within public health and healthcare. Christian was appointed as Deputy Chief Health Officer (COVID-19) in 2022 and Deputy Chief Health Officer Communicable Diseases in December 2023.