Sydney North Health Network (SNHN) is working with Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD) to develop a COVID-19 outbreak response plan for high-risk settings including Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs), group homes, schools (including boarding schools) and large business centres.
General practitioners are critical in successfully managing local outbreaks. A key element of the response plan will be a surge workforce pool from which we can mobilise GPs to be a part of an “Incident Management Team” (IMT) in situations where an RACF cannot utilise GPs who currently provide care for their residents, or there is no existing “resident” GP.
SNHN is seeking expressions of interest from general practitioners to join the surge workforce pool to be part of the onsite “Incident Management Team”.
The IMT will implement a pre-prepared Strike Force Implementation Plan aimed at controlling the COVID-19 outbreak. As part of the IMT, the role of the GP could include:
- Medical management of COVID positive and/or COVID negative residents
- Liaising with resident’s usual GP
- Liaising with NSLHD Virtual Hospital team for remote management of positive COVID-19 patients
- Provision of advice for onsite RACF staff on infection prevention & control and correct use of PPE
- Support implementation of COVID-19 Strike Force Initial Response Team directives for containment and management
- Engage COVID-19 Swab Team for testing
GPs will not be expected to perform any duties outside their normal scope of practice. It is likely that the role of the GP will also be site-specific. The NSLHD Strike Force response will be provided in conjunction and agreement with the RACF (or other setting) and any usual care providers, including GPs, to ensure a comprehensive and collaborative approach. Any GP deployed under this model will be remunerated by SNHN (details TBC).
GPs are now invited to express their interest in joining the surge workforce pool – please complete and submit the form below.
Enquiries can be directed to cstanton@snhn.org.au, 0417 432 619
Background:
Options for continuity of GP involvement in care provision, that minimises the number of GPs attending an outbreak site.
Potential Incident Management Team composition:
The IMT may be comprised of the following specialities:
- Nursing
- Profile may change based on location however will include IP&C nursing
- Medical
- Profile may change based on location, but will require daily medical rounding completed by a suitable medical clinician (Infectious Diseases Clinician / Virtual Hospital Clinician)
- This will likely include existing NSLHD RACF in-reach services (ARRT, GRACE, BRACE) and utilisation of GPs affiliated with the RACF to provide regular GP care, or GPs sourced from a centralised pool of GPs
- Allied Health
- Profile may change based on location
Sydney North Health Network is one of 31 Primary Health Networks established by the Australian Government to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of medical services for the community.