Increasing workforce capacity

Our PHN is committed to supporting our local primary health care workforce to deliver better patient care.

22

face-to-face events held*

28

webinars held*


1,448

healthcare professionals attended

our events and webinars*

*Please note event figures impacted by COVID-19

In 2020-21, our Primary Care Liaison team focused on providing support in the following areas:

  • digital health, including My Health Record
  • education and training
  • opportunities
  • accreditation support
  • practice management
  • quality improvement
  • cancer screening
  • MBS billing
  • patient referrals

Education in our region

This year, our Primary Care Liaison team provided free meaningful education across our region for health professionals to learn and grow their skillset.


Some of the topics covered in education and training includes:

  • Pain management
  • Cancer management
  • Practice nurse education
  • Kidney health
  • Immunisation updates
  • COVID-19
  • Digital health in general practice
  • Improvement Foundation practice
  • Children’s health and wellbeing
  • Immunisations for refugees
  • MBS item numbers 101
  • Cultural Awareness Training
  • GP advanced life support training
  • Continuous quality improvement
  • Wound management

Meet and Greets and Chapter Meetings

To support our primary care community to further build their networks, we continued to host several new and existing networking events in 2020-21, including:


  • Health Professional Meet and Greets – Goondiwindi, Warwick, Stanthorpe, Dalby, Chinchilla, Kingaroy, Gatton, Ipswich, Springfield and Toowoomba. This year we partnered with GPTQ in the delivery of these events, contributing to increased attendee numbers.
  • Practice Manager Network Meetings – Ipswich, and video conferencing for rural practices
  • GP Chapter Meetings - Dalby, Kingaroy, Murgon, Chinchilla, Goondiwindi, Warwick and Stanthorpe
  • Region-wide webinars between the hospital and health services, their Public Health Units, our PHN and primary health care service providers.

Red Ant Round-up delivers for rural health professionals

The Red Ant Round-up Medical Conference has continued to assert its reputation as one of the leading medical conferences for rural health professionals in the Darling Downs region. The two-day event was held for the fourth time in 2021 Saturday, 13 and Sunday, 14 March with a record number of delegates attending made up of GPs, registrars, nurses, allied health professionals and students.


This year’s conference focused on the topic of cancer, with over 180 health professionals attending to listen to expert speakers on the theme ‘The Big C: Detection, management and recovery’ which explored the latest treatments and technologies.

Read more >

COVID-19 – A continuing response to a global pandemic

Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN has continued to support primary health respond to the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020-21.

To provide an integrated response, our PHN, West Moreton Health and Darling Downs Health have worked collaboratively to ensure critical information was delivered to GPs and health professionals in a timely and effective manner.


This has included supporting the Federal Government’s COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-out, as well as supporting the Queensland Governments state-based approach.


Through all of this work, we have continued to engage with stakeholders, local, state and federal government departments and the community to keep all groups informed and safe.

Final RACF residents receive COVID-19 vaccine


Residents at Kaloma Home for the Aged in Goondiwindi became the final residential aged care facility (RACF) in the Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN region to receive dose two of their COVID-19 vaccine in June 2021.


Kaloma is the 67th RACF to have all residents fully vaccinated marking the end of a four-month concerted effort to ensure all older persons living in RACFs are protected from COVID-19.

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‘Safe to see your GP’ – Encouraging people not to put their health on hold


Now is not the time to put your health on hold - it is safe and important to see your GP and maintain your appointments with other health professionals.


This was the message from PHN’s ‘Safe to see your GP’ campaign that launched in July 2020. The Campaign highlighted the importance of people maintaining their health and wellbeing as Australia continued to deal with the initial outbreak of COVID-19.


The Campaign was rolled out through TV, radio, digital and print advertising, with promotional materials being seen 4 million times by residents throughout the region.

The Campaign was also adopted by Brisbane North PHN to grow awareness in their communities about the importance of maintaining health appointments during the pandemic.

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Helping nurses provide effective care

Kristen Jefferson is one of 14 nurses who participated in the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) Chronic Disease Management and Healthy Ageing Program.


The program funded by the PHN throughout 2020-21 is designed for nurses working in primary health care and consists of specifically tailored virtual workshops and modules.


Mrs Jefferson said she enjoyed the flexibility of the program that allowed her to update her skills in her own time.


“I have been a nurse for 10 years and I felt it was a good opportunity for a refresher in chronic disease management,” Mrs Jefferson said.


Read more >

High school students Aspire2Health

Local high school students were given the opportunity to consider a career in health care in May 2021 through the annual Aspire2Health program delivered by the University of Queensland Rural Clinical School.


Funded by the PHN the Aspire2Health program works with the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training, Rural Medical Education Australia, Griffith University, Southern Queensland Rural Health and The University of Southern Queensland to deliver a series of workshops for high school students across the Darling Downs and Southwest Queensland.


The Program targets regional, rural and remote high school students who are interested in working in medicine, nursing or allied health and gives them a full immersion into regional and rural healthcare.

Read more >
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