Inner West Sydney Medicare Local

Central Sydney GP Network Ltd has established the Inner West Sydney Medicare Local.

Characteristics of the local area

The population of the Inner West Sydney Medicare Local is characterised by a higher proportion of 25-40 year olds (29.5 per cent compared to the Australian average of 21.6 per cent) and a high proportion of people born overseas in a non-English speaking country (32.2 per cent, more than double the Australian average of 13.8 per cent). The population also includes 11.5 per cent of people living in the Medicare Local catchment who are 65 years of age or above and approximately 1 per cent of people who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

New key activities as a Medicare Local

To meet the strategic objectives for a Medicare Local, the Inner West Sydney Medicare Local will undertake a range of activities that will initially include the following:

• establishment of an Information Hotline available during office hours to answer questions and advise the public in relation to access and knowledge of services available in the area;
• establishment of a population health database on a central server with security and quality control measures and with multi-user reader access;
• coordination of allied health services in conjunction with the Sydney Local Health District, to further reduce the burden on the hospital system;
• in cooperation with the Sydney South West Area Health Service, expansion of the Canterbury after hours GP service to visit Residential Aged Care Facility patients, helping to minimise unnecessary referrals to Emergency Departments from Residential Aged Care Facilities after hours; and
• promotion and delivery of multidisciplinary continuing professional development targeting professional development to specific local needs such as mental health, servicing culturally and linguistically diverse communities, diabetes prevention and cardiovascular disease.

Achievements to date

Central Sydney GP Network Ltd has:

• employed Aboriginal Outreach Workers through the Aboriginal Health Program, increasing the number of Aboriginal health assessments provided from 29 (July-September 2009) to 110 (July-September 2010);
• delivered the Aged Care Access Initiative, providing speech pathology, dietetics/nutrition, physiotherapy, exercise physiology, divisional therapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, diabetes education and mental health Nurse/ Counsellor /Psychologist services to
• Residential Aged Care Facilities;
• employed a Mental Health Clinical Nurse Consultant with experience working in mental health and drug and alcohol settings to work with local GPs and support them in the management of stable patients from Area Health Service settings;
• provided support to general practices to improve the management of immunisation delivery and reporting within all practices, including the uptake of online or electronic data recording to send vaccination encounters to Medicare and reminder-recall systems; and
• provided service directories grouped by relevant profession, expertise, target group, program and language including a directory for general practice services that have received Aboriginal cultural competency training and support and a guide for GPs to accessing services for the aged and disabled.

Local partnerships

The new Inner West Sydney Medicare Local will build upon existing relationships established by the Central Sydney GP Network Ltd., including relationships with the Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service, South Sydney Youth Services, the Australian Practice Nurses Association, the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales.

Consultation mechanisms and structure

The skills based Board of the Inner West Sydney Medicare Local will have between seven and nine Directors who will be elected by members or appointed on the basis of relevant skills and experience, ensuring that a broad range of perspectives encompassing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, culturally and linguistically diverse, general practice, allied health and hospital and community service perspectives. The Inner West Sydney Medicare Local is a company limited by guarantee with initial membership of the Central Sydney GP Network expanding to include the Central Sydney Allied Health Network and Central Sydney Health Community Network

Contact details:

Inner West Sydney Medicare Local
Level 1, 158 Liverpool Road
Ashfield NSW 2131

Phone: (02) 9799 0933
Fax: (02) 9799 0944
Email: office@iwsml.com.au
Website: http://iwsml.org.au

Inner West Sydney Medicare Local (PDF 221 KB)