ID-5184 Wonca Abstracts supplement A-K 13-10-23 - Flipbook - Page 259
WONCA 2023 Supplement 1: WONCA 2023 abstracts (A–K)
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Health assistants supporting a GP-led response to
COVID-19 in primary healthcare
Prof Mukesh Haikerwal, Dr Karyn Elizabeth Alexander
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Cirqit Health
The COVID-19 pandemic challenged general practices to provide appropriate new services,
responding rapidly to uncertainty and adapting to new demands and changing circumstances. In
2020, the Australian Government established 140 ‘GP respiratory disease clinics’ nationally to test and
care for COVID-19. Our clinic, the first to open in Victoria, established a safe, effective and adaptive
model of care that employed a casual workforce of health assistants recruited from various disciplines
and training. They ensured robust infection control and streamlined systems around GP-led respiratory
appointments, result management and data collection.
Respiratory clinics operated with GPs and nurses providing clinical services and COVID-19 testing,
including drive-through consultations. During large vaccination clinics, patients attended nurse-led
vaccinations in cohorts with at least one GP onsite.
All services were supported by health assistants who booked appointments, guided patients, ensured
infection control, remotely transcribed consultations (using video consultation from the clinic) and
completed post-visit notifications to patients’ regular GPs and government bodies. Over time, health
assistants increased tasks to include respiratory PCR and RAT testing. New staff were trained using a
buddy system. GPs provided onsite clinical oversight and governance.
Results
Over 2.5 years, the clinic employed a total 103 staff comprising 63 health assistants, 13 nurses,
22 GPs and five traffic attendants. No one contracted COVID-19 from the workplace.
In all, 20,218 patients attended the respiratory clinic from 472 suburbs across Melbourne (mainly West
Melbourne) for a total of 34,293 consultations, including 29,143 swabs; 7472 patients returned three or
more times. More than 1200 patients with COVID-19 were managed.
In all, 37,344 COVID vaccinations, including 6749 boosters, were administered.
Conclusions
This ‘pandemic-flexible’ model of care demonstrated that GPs had a vital role and clinicians could be
supported by non-medical health assistants to safely deliver immediate-need healthcare.
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