Australia overall experiences a range of emergency events like 'natural disasters' including bushfires, floods, severe storms, earthquakes and landslides. These events cause great financial hardship for individuals and communities and can result in loss of life. There are also more localised events such as power outages, loss of systems, loss of premises or even intruders to think about.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has updated its predictions of a La Niña event through 2023. As such the Bureau’s three-month climate prediction indicates a “high chance” of above-average rainfall for most of eastern Australia. With the country already soaked from heavy rain through winter, the BOM is warning of “elevated flood risk” for eastern Australia and into other regions.
It is crucial that general practices can continue providing essential services during emergencies. To do this, it is imperative that they have an up-to-date emergency response plan so that they are prepared, well stocked and ready to respond to any crisis.
Country SA PHN are funding a program to provide fully subsidised access to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) online emergency response planning tool (ERPT) for GP practices across your PHN region. The ERPT is the recommended tool to meet the 5th edition of the GP standards for accreditation.
The Tool is an up-to-date cloud-based plan, developed in collaboration with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. It provides practices with individually tailored information to appropriately prepare for, respond to and recover from, the impacts of emergencies and pandemics in your community – ensuring your staff safety, reducing the risk of financial loss and assisting with the smooth recovery of your practice. Please find out more about the tool by watching this 5 minute RACGP Emergency Response Planning Tool video.
The other exciting news is they have just included new content from the RACGP in the ERPT. These additions, modifications are:
New modules:
Additions and edits to existing modules:
Each participating general practice receives fully subsidised access to the ERPT and support from Healthpoint ANZ to start planning and complete an emergency response plan. This includes personalised training and access to a help desk. Please see ERPT Overview video for further information.
The response and uptake for the tool has been overwhelming so we have funded for an additional 12 months. For more information and registration of your expression of interest in receiving the Emergency Response Planning Tool (ERPT) please email support@countrysaphn.com.au or reply to this email and a member of the Primary Support Team will forward you an onboarding pack.
Alternatively you can book your free training session first and HealthPoint can set up for you. Either way we recommend doing this quick training. Also if you have multiple practices you may need multiple plans.
