Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Otago
General Practitioners
What’s New
x Survey of iSoft Registration
x Discharge Letters
x Cardiac ECHO/ Urology
x Pain Clinic
x Department News/ TIA Pathway / Website
x Public Oral Health / Medical Council Meeting
ISOFT REGISTRATION
Thank you to all the practices that completed the survey sent recently by the Southern
PHO regarding your individual practice’s use of iSoft (the Dunedin hospital IT product)
that allows you to view clinical information about your patients as they have interaction
with the hospital.
One practice in greater Dunedin and fourteen in rural Otago have not yet registered.
If you don’t already have access, please contact me for more information.
anne.worsnop@southerndhb.govt.nz
However, in the survey a few other topics were mentioned and I will answer those:
Discharge letters should be available to The draft letter will be now be visible
the GP as soon as the patient has been on iSoft outside the hospital so that the
discharged GP can see it immediately on patient’s
discharge This is new
Within the next 24 -48 hours this draft Internal department audits are being
letter should be checked and corrected implemented to check that this occurs
by the registrar, at which stage it is
signed off, stored in iSoft as a final
copy and sent electronically to the GP.
The electronic copy will have the This will be new – however it will
author’s name on it so that a GP has take up a year to implement!
someone specific to call if there are
early post discharge problems
There will be a hard copy often sent to This needs to continue as some GPs
the GP may not use electronic facilities at their
surgeries
Instructions for the patient and GP re Hopefully, the initiative above will
follow-up need to be precise and influence this.
preferably written in the place that says
‘follow-up’
I would be pleased to hear from anyone about discharge letters, particularly when the
process seems to be failing, or going exceptionally well.
On our part, it is important that when we are referring to the hospital we pay attention
to the letters we send and avoid sending the patient in with a print-out of the last
multiple consults; we need to be succinct about the patient’s current problem and what
we want to achieve by the referral.
UROLOGY
This is a reminder that Urology is unable to see the following complaints, and your help
in finding alternative pathways of care is appreciated
Mercy Hospital has an outreach fund which will consider part-funding cases
(for surgery) on their merit.
& Hydrocoele
& Circumcision
& Frenuloplasty
& Infertility
All Pain Service personnel are part-time and work in other departments or outside the
DHB
ACC PATIENTS:
These are not seen as a matter of course at the hospital pain clinic - only in exceptional
circumstances. The Pain Service is not funded or resourced to see ACC cases. ACC
patients should be first referred to their case manager who has a list of pain service
providers. The case manager should be asked to arrange a comprehensive multi-
disciplinary pain assessment (CPA). Examples of where CPAs are done are:
Mercy Pain Service– assessment and recommendation of treatment rather than
overseeing it
Burwood Pain management Centre - Christchurch – assessment and treatment
NB: Loss of weekly compensation from ACC does not mean loss of entitlement to
assessment or treatment for an open claim.
The provider help line 0800 222 070 can advise on the status and case manager details
of a client’s claim.
What investigations have already been done? (Please include copies if you have them, as
private records are not always easily accessible)
Has the patient had previous pain assessments – if so where – copies?
Social status; specific issues you are worried about.
Work status – is there a threat of job loss?
Co-morbidities
BOOKING APPOINTMENTS:
The Pain Service uses a ‘Patient focused’ booking system for new patient assessments.
This is to reduce the missed appointments of patients who receive their appointment in
the mail. The rationale is that if they phone to make an appointment, they want one,
and if they indicate the day that suits them they are more likely to attend on that day.
Once a patient is discharged from the clinic it is possible to refer back to the Pain Service
if problems arise.
BREAST SCREENING
Breast screening has a new consultant radiologist - Dr Shelley Boyd who is fully
accredited to BreastScreen Aotearoa. Shelley is undertaking Diagnostic and Screening
which is a relief to Prof Doyle who has been our soul consultant in Dunedin for a number
of years.
OPHTHALMOLOGY
Like all services, the eye department is experiencing an ongoing increase in demand for
services. Based on current referral patterns we are unable to meet all the demand for
an FSA (first specialist appointment). Based on governmental policy we may only accept
the number of patients we can see within 6 months, and this is based on volumes we
have been asked to provide. This means that we will only accept your patients where the
referral is urgent. This means all referrals triaged as semi-urgent and routine are being
returned to GP care.
Joanne Rowe | Unit Manager | Eyes
TIA PATHWAY
Dr Wendy Busby, who runs the urgent TIA outpatient clinic is asking that we try to use
the TIA Assessment guidelines and referral template which you will find in the GP section
of the Southern DHB website – under heading ‘department/ specific service’, and then
under General Medicine. If we use the template, then referrals to the clinic offer Wendy
the information she needs to prioritise, additionally it prompts us to review current
medications and preventative strategies for that particular patient.
WEBSITE
The format of this has been changed to hopefully make it more intuitive. Clinical
information will be under ‘department/specific service’, along with access criteria and
referral guidelines for each specialty.
For example, the Pain Clinic information above can be found under its own heading.
As part of this change Angela Benn (Senior Public Health Dentist for the DHB) is asking
dental therapists to contact the relevant general practitioner for guidance, as to whether
a particular child might need antibacterial prophylaxis for planned dental procedures.
Dear Doctor,
Re Name
Address
Date of birth
NHI number
Thank you,
Kind regards,
……………..
If there are any suggested changes, please e-mail the suggestions to Angela at
angela.benn@souhterndhb.govt.nz
PrevocationalTrainingRequirementsfor
DoctorsinNZ
The Council aims to enhance the training experience for junior doctors and ensure they
gain the core general competencies to practise across the breadth of medical practice in
both primary and secondary care settings.
Medical Council NZ invites all doctors (junior & senior) to attend the following discussion
session:
Barnett Lecture Theatre
Dunedin School of Medicine
University of Otago
(located on the 1st Floor, Ward Block, Dunedin Hospital)
Thursday 9 June 2011, 5:30pm.
Light refreshments will be provided.
The discussion paper and submission details can be found at www.mcnz.org.nz