September 2023

Hello, and welcome to you all from my office on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. I want to start by paying my respects to the Traditional Owners of this land and to all Aboriginal leaders, past present and upcoming.
 
I hope you’ve had the opportunity to enjoy the warmer weather and lighter evenings as winter has ended, and we welcome the joys of reawakening nature with spring.
 
I’m looking forward to hosting the 2023 Annual NSW&ACT Faculty Member Meeting, which will be held at our North Sydney office on Wednesday, 27 September. This event is one of the highlights of our annual calendar and our opportunity to congratulate this year’s NSW&ACT award winners. We’ll also welcome the inspirational Professor Mark Harris to deliver this year’s Charles Bridges-Webb Oration. Registrations are open until 22 September and it would be wonderful to see you face-to-face but if this isn’t possible, join us virtually.
 
Payroll tax remains a consistent theme in the College’s advocacy efforts. The RACGP continues to pursue a long-term commitment from the NSW and ACT Governments to refrain from imposing retrospective payroll tax on contractor GPs and implementing a grace period for practices to prepare for changes as required. We welcomed the NSW 12-month pause on any current, or existing general practice audits while the Government considers our reasons for permanent exemptions. We’re working with the NSW Commissioner of State Revenue to deliver an educational webinar specifically focused on payroll tax affecting general practice. The webinar will address the NSW Revenue Office’s approach, present some specific case studies, and answer your questions with respect to your practice’s payroll tax liability. In the meantime, we continue to lobby the ACT Government to provide long-term exemptions for all general practices.
 
RACGP NSW&ACT and the NSW/ACT Primary Health Networks are collaborating to deliver a series of informational MyMedicare webinars. Recordings of the first introductory webinar can be found on our events page. 
 
Sydney will welcome GPs from across the country and the globe as the RACGP hosts the WONCA Sydney World Conference this 26-29 October. WONCA is the largest global conference for GPs, family doctors and primary healthcare specialists. I sincerely hope you’ll join us to fill the ICC venue rooms with RACGP members alongside our international colleagues.
 
The conference is themed around recovery, reconnection and revival in primary care. It will reflect on what primary healthcare has learnt throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and what’s needed to thrive in the future. I’m looking forward to connecting with my local and international colleagues, and I warmly encourage you to register your attendance and join me for the event.
 

We know payroll tax is a top concern for members. We’re fighting it and welcomed a breakthrough last week in Queensland. The Queensland Government announced that the Revenue Office will issue a new ruling, which is expected to make clear that payroll tax doesn’t apply to payments for GP services when paid by a patient directly to a GP, including Medicare benefits and any out-of-pocket fees.
 
We’ll leverage this to push the NSW and ACT governments to follow, in line with harmonisation protocols.  
 
To date, there have been a range of activities undertaken both in NSW and the ACT by the Faculty. In the ACT, these have included meetings with the Chief Minister, Health Minister, and Greens Health spokesperson, discussing the negative impacts of payroll tax on general practice and requesting that they consider the request for no retrospective payroll tax imposition. Together with the AMA, we’ve held meetings with subsequent media coverage. While the current outcome is a two-year payroll tax exemption until 30 June 2025,  it’s only for practices that bulk bill 65% of their patients. This isn’t  desirable and there are further activities and ongoing advocacy actions planned.
 
How can you help our payroll tax advocacy?

• Get involved via our payroll tax advocacy webpage for members. This has all the latest information, as well as resources so you can help us fight against this new tax, including a letter template so you can write to your local MP.
• We’re planning on rolling out a patient-facing campaign in jurisdictions that haven’t provided a workable solution for GPs, including the ACT. This will include posters practices can put up that link to a petition for patients to sign, calling on the government to stop the tax grab. Details including resources will be sent directly to ACT members.
• There’s also an ongoing online petition on the ACT Legislative Assembly website. Read more and show your support by signing it.

 
For updates on what’s happening in this space you can also refer to the RACGP website.

Date: 27 September 2023
Time: 7.00–8.00pm (AEST)
Venue: Online

Register here

Date: 4 October 2023
Time: 12.00–1.15pm (AEDT)
Venue: Online
CPD: One EA CPD hour

Register here

Date: 11 October 2023
Time: 7.30–8.30pm (AEDT)
Venue: Online
CPD: One EA CPD hour

Register here

Date: 17 October 2023
Time: 7.30–8.30pm (AEDT)
Venue: Online
CPD: One EA CPD hour

Register here

The conference will offer a valuable opportunity for NSW healthcare workers to learn how voluntary assisted dying will be implemented in NSW and hear from experts from other states who provide voluntary assisted dying services.
 
Date: 29 September 2023
Time: 8.00am–5.00pm
Location: ICC Sydney
 
Register for the free event

 

From November, patients may start to ask about accessing voluntary assisted dying. Join this webinar to understand GPs obligations and responsibilities under the voluntary assisted dying legislation to enable them to support their patients to access voluntary assisted dying when it becomes available.

This webinar is the second in the series – View the first webinar recording, Introduction to voluntary assisted dying.

Date: 16 October 2023
Time: 7.30–8.30pm (AEDT)
Location: Online

Register now

What is the NSW state-wide referral criteria?

State-wide referral criteria (SRC) are clinical decision-support tools that give health professionals the referral criteria they need to refer their patients to public specialist outpatient services across NSW.
 
SRC helps people who need to see a health professional in a NSW public specialist outpatient service to be referred and prioritised in a safe and timely way. They support patients and the health professionals looking after them make a referral and assist NSW public specialist outpatient services with screening and triaging these referrals.
 
Please visit the NSW Health website for more information.

RACGP NSW&ACT congratulates the following GPs who attained Fellowship of the RACGP last month:
 

Dr Shajia Afrin Dr Irsa Farid Dr Rishi Pokhrel Dr Eman Al Hafed Dr Carolyn Fong Dr Rafi Qoja Dr Md. Emran Ali Dr Ben Gallan Dr Ambily Ramachandran Nair Dr Yaseen Alkhalil Dr Ali Ghazalah Dr Adrienne Searle Dr Sahban Alshehabi Dr Najma Habib Dr Margarethe Sears Dr Ahmed AlSultan Dr Shaheryar Hassan Dr Lucinda Sullivan Dr Abubakr Attia Dr Laura Hodges Dr Gerges Tadrous Dr Lin Aung Dr Andy Hsu Dr Mikhail Tamayo Dr Mina Ayad Dr Nay Htet Dr Lara Tereshchenko Dr Michael Azzi Dr Justin Hunter Dr Swetha Jay Thakkar Dr Mridula Laxman Bengre Dr Courtney Isreb Dr Olivia Thorpe Dr Pedro Bernardino Campos Dr Jennifer Jiang Dr Jean Tucker Dr Jayathri Bodaragama Dr Yeji Kim Dr Vijetha Vellurupalli Dr Yudi Chen Dr Sze Ah Lee Dr Rishi Verma Dr Kaitlin Daw Dr Shanna Morris Dr Sophie Wagner Dr Natalie D'Enyar Dr Cassandra Murphy Dr Lingdi Wang Dr Ashraf Eissa Dr Raj Pandey

  
Congratulations on achieving Fellowship of the RACGP! We recognise the sacrifice and hard work that has gone into your general practice journey.
 
Transitioning from a being a GP in training to an independent, practising GP is a major career-changing (and life-changing) milestone. The Next Five Program extends support to New Fellows as they navigate their first few years of unsupervised practice.

There’s never been a better time to develop your skills to help shape the future of general practice.
The RACGP Future Leaders program gives GPs the confidence to lead change in their community. It incorporates a blended action learning approach and covers a more diverse range of topics including; organisation dynamics, change management, influencing, strategic thinking, advocacy and representation.
Participants can earn more than 40 CPD hours, with the potential to quick-log more throughout the year, helping you meet your annual requirements in a seamless, relevant way.

Applications for the 2024 Future Leaders program are open from 11–29 September 2023.

Find out more
 

We’re proud to launch the third and final part of the RACGP’s Silver Book – Part C: Organisational approaches to aged care.

Last updated in 2006, Part C provides a useful guide on the different systems and tools that can be applied to support care for people in residential aged care and community settings.

GPs attend to one in three patients over the age of 65, and the Silver Book will provide a comprehensive guide that will equip GPs with practical insights into common clinical conditions in aged care.

Stay prepared to address the evolving complexities of aged care. Visit the RACGP website to read the Silver Book now.
 

The RACGP CPD program has recently released two new tools, ‘Measuring outcomes’ and ‘Reviewing Performance’. These tools are designed to help you evidence your reflections and any changes or improvements that you’ve implemented in your practice, no matter how big or small. Watch these videos on how to use these tools:

• Measuring outcomes tool
• Reviewing performance tool

To access these new tools, log on to your myCPD, click on ‘Log’ then select the relevant tool you want to access.

For any queries, please contact your local RACGP CPD team.

Do you strive for a healthcare system free of racism, discrimination, bullying, and harassment?
Do you think it’s time to create a better culture within the workplaces, a culturally safe healthcare system where all healthcare workers can thrive and deliver the best care possible? 

A Better Culture is seeking expressions of interest from doctors to join its reference groups, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Culturally, Ethically and Linguistically Diverse Reference Groups.

More details can be found on www.abetterculture.org.au.
 

Illegal nicotine e-cigarettes remain a growing concern, due to their associated health risks, availability, and increased use among adolescents.

NSW Health is continuing to crack down on e-cigarette retailers, seizing around 369,000 e-cigarettes, with an estimated street value of over $11.8 million in an 18-month period.

In quarter one this year, NSW Health seized 94,000 e-cigarettes up from 51,000 at the same time last year.

NSW Health is committed to reducing the prevalence of e-cigarette use and supports the Commonwealth vaping reforms. Watch this space for updated clinical guidance to support patients to quit.
 

Find out more

Routine Growth Assessment is a useful tool to identify children above a healthy weight. Early identification is an opportunity to talk to parents about making healthy lifestyle changes and make a referral to Go4Fun.
 
Go4Fun is a free program for children aged 7–13 years who are above a healthy weight. The program runs for 10 weeks and provides practical strategies to help families develop healthy habits.
 
Aboriginal Go4Fun is a culturally adapted program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.
 
Families who cannot attend face-to-face programs can register for Go4Fun Online. Registrations for term 4 are now open. Refer today.
 

Registration to become an authorised voluntary assisted dying practitioner in NSW is now open via the NSW Voluntary Assisted Dying Portal.
 
Authorised practitioners will receive comprehensive training and support to guide eligible patients seeking to access voluntary assisted dying through the process when it becomes available on 28 November 2023.
 
After completing your registration, NSW Health will assess your eligibility and you will be contacted for further information if required. Eligible practitioners will then be directed to complete the mandatory training.
 
Only certain practitioners are eligible to become authorised practitioners.  You can learn more about eligibility on the NSW Health website.

Updates have been made to our state’s real-time prescription monitoring system, SafeScript NSW, including extending access to interstate practitioners and usability enhancements based on practitioner feedback.
 
Improving data quality in SafeScript NSW is a current focus for NSW Health. Prescribers can help by ensuring accurate information on patients and medicines is entered into clinical systems when prescribing.
 
NSW Health is currently developing additional functionality within SafeScript NSW to manage authorisations to prescribe or supply medicines. Applications will be able to be made online from later this year, starting with OTP and psychostimulant approvals.