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Get in touch any time if you have things to discuss and challenges to overcome!

The Direct Feedback Sessions are coming up NEXT WEEK!!!

Last chance to book in to review and add things to HealthPathways - the Database 800+ GPs and Allied Health Professionals use in Canberra to get their local referral information and patient info resources!

This is a great opportunity not to be missed.

Please register at the below link, and you can access HealthPathways by clicking the other box and following the instructions.

The next meeting is our In-Person Networking Meeting on Wednesday the 28th May 2025 from 10am to 11:30am at our Chifley Office meeting room.

This is our excellent in-person networking where we share our current projects, hear what others are up to, eat and drink and find ways to help each other out.

We look forward to seeing you at:

• 70 Maclaurin Crecent, Chifley, ACT, 2606

Please register at the below link. 

Knowing how to advocate for yourself is an important part of getting quality, safe, health care. Our friends at ACT Down Syndrome and Intellectual Disability run free workshops for people with intellectual disability to learn about self-advocacy, and making decisions, from other people with intellectual disability! 

These workshops will cover:

What is a decision?

Who can help you make decision?

Your right to make decisions

Guardianship

Consent and changing your mind

 

This fun in-person workshop is coming up this Thursday the 1st May at the EQUIPD Allied Health Community Gym in Chifley Hub at 10:30am.

It's going to be great, and I'm going to order Vietnamese rice paper rolls and mini-Bahn-Mi buns for lunch. We will listen to Dylan Grubb, an excellent human and Exercise Physiologist, talk about how to exercise safely and effectively with chronic conditions and pain, and then we will have a look around the gym. 

This is a great scouting opportunity to have a look at low-cost services in the community for people living with chronic health conditions and see if it is a good fit for your members. 

The latest information HCCA received from ACT Health (22nd April 2025) about the Interchange re-opening is as follows:

"The Administrators of Interchange have provided an update, stating that they have reached an agreement for IHCO services to temporarily resume under a licence agreement. The agreement will see trading and clinical operations of the IHCO resume shortly at a date to be communicated to patients by the new operators. 

The ACT Health Directorate understands IHCO will be reopening over the next two weeks under the licensing agreement while longer term options are explored. As the practice works through a safe reopening process the service will be limited, while additional workforce and supports are put into place. In this initial reopening, there will be a focus on prioritising patients including those with complex health needs, including alcohol and drug dependencies, mental health concerns and chronic conditions.

Existing patients were sent an email on Tuesday 15 April 2025 from the Administrators, which included information about Interchange’s planned reopening and contact information. Existing patients will also receive instructions on how to re-book any required appointments online and direct information about the reopening date.

For patient enquiries phone (03) 9286 8020 or via email at [email protected]. Patients can be reassured that members of IHCO’s clinical and administrative team are returning. New patients are not currently being accepted. Once the reopening date is confirmed, further information will be provided. Information is also available on IHCO’s website.

As you may have seen in recent media, the Australian Labor Party has pledged an investment of $3.8 million for IHCO over the next three years if re-elected.

The ACT Health Directorate, Capital Health Network, the Department of Health and Aged Care and the Administrators are working closely to focus on meeting the needs of patients and the safe re-opening of the service.

Kind regards

Primary and Integrated Care Policy team

ACT Health Directorate"

We would love for any interested organisations to provide your valuable feedback to us on the CHS Acute Palliative Care Unit's - Model of Care. 

The Acute Palliative Care Unit (APCU) will address significant gaps in care by providing a dedicated space for the acute management of palliative patients with specialist palliative care needs. Previously, these patients were managed in general inpatient wards. It also addresses the shortage of acute specialist palliative care beds and ensures equitable access to palliative care for underserved populations.  

So - this unit is being designed for people who need palliative care support in hospital, for an acute issue or episode. They would expect to stay for a few days or weeks to resolve the issue, then be discharged. It's a specialist palliative care support service, not a hospice or end-of-life care unit. 

Could you take 10min to answer these questions:

1. What do you/your members want from a new specialist Palliative Care service and environment (this is the opportunity to design an all-new service from the ground up and a purpose designed space).
2. How should this unit collaborate with other clinical areas in the hospital? What are the relevant cross-over points, and what things should be done at the bedside in this unit, rather than moving around to other clinical areas?
3. What should the criteria be for admission to this unit be? 
4. How should this service overlap with services related to Voluntary Assisted Dying?
5. Are there any specific care elements needed for your populations? Including multicultural and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members. 

If you want to just email me directly [email protected] with the answers to your questions, click on my nice blue email address

OR

If you want to review the whole model of care document, you can also do that directly on our Policy Hub below. 

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