Healthy ageing and palliative care for health professionals
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Murrumbidgee Aged Care Consortium
The Murrumbidgee Aged Care Consortium provides a forum for key stakeholders from health, social and community sectors to improve coordination and equitable access to timely and appropriate care for older people and their carers. The Murrumbidgee Aged Care Consortium is working towards achieving a number of objectives such as:
supporting system reform through the development of strategies which focus on improving coordination and address service gaps in aged care
the development of strategies to assist clients, carers and providers to navigate the aged care system
supporting professional development opportunities for people working in aged care and encouraging inter professional and cross sector approaches
identifying opportunities for joint initiatives and working collaboratively on joint funding opportunities when available
ensuring the Murrumbidgee Aged Care Consortium and any initiatives of the Consortium are evaluated
ensuring the Murrumbidgee Aged Care Consortium’s positive outcomes are disseminated particularly throughout the Murrumbidgee region
If you would like to join the Murrumbidgee Aged Care Consortium, please contact the Healthy Ageing Team on 02 69233100 or via jane.gerhard@mphn.org.au.
Murrumbidgee Aged Care Community of Practice
The Murrumbidgee Aged Care Community of Practice was originally established by the Murrumbidgee Local Health Direct as a mechanism to share accurate, up to date and relevant information to aged care providers during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has since developed into a platform that gives RACF managers and their key personnel an opportunity to collaborate with industry peers, collectively problem solve and contribute to the improvement of aged care in the Murrumbidgee area.
If you would like to join the Murrumbidgee Aged Care Community of Practice, please contact the Healthy Ageing Team on 02 69233100 or via jane.gerhard@mphn.org.au.
Murrumbidgee Aged Care Basecamp
Basecamp is a real-time communication tool that helps people stay connected and share information and resources. Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network (MPHN) the administrator for this Basecamp group, commenced this platform to support the activities of the Murrumbidgee Aged Care Community of Practice.
If you would like to join the Murrumbidgee Aged Care Basecamp, please contact the Healthy Ageing Team on 02 69233100 or via jane.gerhard@mphn.org.au.
Initiatives, Projects and Activities
Healthy Ageing
Telehealth – Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network is working to support RACFs to increase availability and use of telehealth care for aged care residents.
After hours - RACF residents can experience rapid health deterioration during the after-hours period, but immediate transfer to hospital is not always clinically necessary. The Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network is working with RACFs to help reduce unnecessary hospital presentations among RACF residents by supporting facilities to update and/or bolster their after-hours plans.
MPHN Healthy Ageing Initiatives
The Vitality Passport is a lifestyle program aimed to reduce or halt the progression of frailty and falls for older people. Back on Track Physiotherapy delivers this program in various communities, more information can be found here.
Carer/dementia
Meal support training - MPHN has partnered with Altura Learning to offer residential aged care facilities a free, two-year subscription to Altura Learning’s meal support modules. RACF’s interested in this training will be given access to 4 learning modules that can be undertaken by staff, volunteers, and carers.
If you are a RACF interested in this offer, please provide your full name and email address to jane.gerhard@mphn.org.au
Palliative Care
Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care Measure
The Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care measure aims to improve palliative care coordination through Primary Health Networks.
The goals of this measure are to:
improve your access to the best palliative care at home
support palliative care services in primary health and community care
make sure you get the right care, at the right time and in the right place to reduce unnecessary hospital visits
generate and use data to improve services
use technology to provide flexible and responsive care, including after-hours care.
Current MPHN palliative care activities include:
GoShare adult attitude to grief app (coming soon)
General Practice Death Audit Activity (coming soon)
Palliative Care Multidisciplinary Team Meetings – Evidence suggests that multidisciplinary care is a key aspect in providing best-practice care for patients with complex needs. Multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings aim to ensure that members who care for a patient can discuss all aspects of the patients physical and supportive care needs. If you are interested in finding more about MDT meetings ,including accessing the guide for establishing MDT meetings, please contact MPHN.
General Practice Quality Improvement Toolkit (coming soon)
Dementia Capacity Building Program (coming soon) The dementia capacity building program aims to assist carers of people living in the community with dementia, to prevent and detect conditions that are associated with hospitals and to support people to live well longer, in their own communities.
The Medication Management toolkit for Palliating In Place (MM-PIP) The MM-PIPwas developed to improve timely access to safe, quality palliative care medicines for residents living in Residential Aged Care Facilities. MPHN has commissioned Evohealth to undertake this project.
Latest palliative care news
Resources
The Murrumbidgee Acute Care Decision Guidelines provide a guide for the management of the acutely unwell and deteriorating resident.
Mystep Aged Care mental health support - MyStep to Mental Wellbeing (MyStep) offers a range of mental health supports from health information and early intervention, services delivered face to face and using telehealth, including in-reach into residential aged care facilities. Learn more here.
Electronic National Residential Medication Chart (eNRMC) medication management systems will be used to electronically prescribe medicines in residential care facilities, without the need for paper prescriptions. The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care engaged the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality Health Care to develop these online resources.
PainChek - MPHN have partnered with PainChek to provide access to the PainChek app for residential aged care facilities in the Murrumbidgee region. PainChek is a validated clinical software tool that accurately assesses pain in verbal and non-verbal residentsto calculate reliable and objective overall pain scores, which supports the delivery of effective pain management. Learn more here.
My Health Record is a secure online summary of an individual’s health information and is available to all Australians. Healthcare providers authorised by their healthcare organisation can access My Health Record to view and add patient health information. To register and set up access, click here.
My Aged Care - Health and aged care professionals can request an assessment for a patient or client they feel requires support. GPs may also be able to use e-referrals from within their practice management system.
Palliative Care Support and Services Guide - Our Palliative Care Support and Services Guide seamlessly connects palliative care patients and their caregivers with essential services spanning the Murrumbidgee region, ensuring comprehensive care and support.
Download or Palliative Care in General Practice information sheet here.
Useful links
Healthy Ageing
MLHD Aged Care Services Referral and referral form used for referral to Geriatrician, psycho-geriatrician, Specialist Aged Care Nurses Inpatient ACAT and Aged Care Allied Health
Advice to residential aged care facilities (RACFs) regarding COVID-19.
Advance Care Planning is a voluntary process of planning for future health and personal care whereby a person makes their beliefs, values and preferences known so they can be used to guide future decision-making in the event that the person is unable to make or communicate decisions.
Palliative Care
CareSearch palliative care knowledge network - The health professionals centre within CareSearch is a place for the workforce providing palliative care. Providing trustworthy and practical resources that are relevant to your practice.
The Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (PEPA) forms part of the Palliative Care Education and Training Collaborative (the Collaborative). As a national palliative care project, the Collaborative takes a strategic approach to education and training of the healthcare workforce and delivers programs for priority healthcare provider groups across primary, secondary and tertiary settings.
The Indigenous Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (IPEPA) is a grassroots approach to breaking down the barriers to palliative care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia. Informed by community, for community, the Indigenous Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (IPEPA) is embedding Australian Indigenous knowledges across all PEPA resources and facilitating two-way learning.
ELDAC provides information, guidance, and resources to health professionals and aged care workers to support palliative care and advance care planning to improve the care of older Australians.
Palliative Care Australia: Health Professional Palliative Care Australia is the national peak body for palliative care with dedicated support for health professionals.
Palliative Care Australia: Service Provider - To ensure people living with a life-limiting illness and their families and carers can find you and learn about the services you offer, it is important that your details are recorded on the National Palliative Care Services Directory. If you would like to contact someone about the National Palliative Care Services Directory, please email servicedirectory@palliativecare.org.au
For general Healthy Ageing and Palliative Care enquiries, please contact the Healthy Ageing and Palliative Care team on 02 69 233 100.
HealthPathways
Murrumbidgee HealthPathways is a web-based portal with condition-specific ‘pathways'. Each pathway supports clinicians with assessment, management and local referral information. The Murrumbidgee HealthPathways site is designed to be used at the point of care, primarily by general practitioners, but it is also available to other health professionals across the Murrumbidgee region.
For support to access Murrumbidgee HealthPathways, please contact the Murrumbidgee HealthPathways team on 02 69 233 100.