GVGPs

Project Brief

Goulburn Valley Division of General Practice would like to introduce the Rural Palliative Care Project in partnership with Lower Hume Palliative Care Service, Moira Palliative Care Service, GV Hospice and Hume Region Integrated Cancer Service.

 During 2003-2006 a pilot program supported Rural Palliative care services, across eight rural Divisions of General Practice across Australia. The program encouraged the development of collaborative models which improved rural communities' access to quality, coordinated palliative care. During 2008-2010 we will continue to work with Palliative Care Services and apply lessons learnt from this pilot project.

What are the aims of the Palliative Care Project in our region?

• Building relationships and networking between general practice and other primary service providers of palliative care in the catchment,
• Promote understanding of rural palliative care models across the catchment,
• Strengthen links between dedicated palliative care teams, general practice and mainstream service providers,
• Provide and support education and skill enhancement opportunities for all health professionals, building on the multidisciplinary team.

Our Partnerships objectives include:

• Governance: we have an expert reference group to provide direction and focus,
• Sustainability: emphasis on models that can continue after project completion,
• Data collection: measuring the impact of the project,
• Education and training: targeting all interested professionals, GP's, overseas trained doctors, nurses from various services and allied health professionals. We encourage networking opportunities and the understanding of the rural palliative care process,
• Multidisciplinary teams: supporting a palliative team approach to improve client care. GP's are integral members of the team, participating in team care arrangements with allied health professionals, supported by the medical benefits scheme (MBS),
• Communicating patient needs: support the demonstration of a web based client history system called Pall Care - allowing multidisciplinary team access to a client's treatment, medication, history, current care plan for possible implementation across the catchment.