Showcasing multidisciplinary team-based care in our region

Understanding how practices across our region are practicing multidisciplinary team care using the WIP-PS incentive.

Last month Brisbane North PHN co-hosted a successful joint webinar, Enhancing Multidisciplinary Team-Based Care in General Practice - WIP-PS in Action for GPs, practice managers, nurses, practice owners and other allied health professionals.

Delivered in collaboration with Brisbane South, Country to Coast Queensland, Darling Downs and West Moreton, and Gold Coast PHNs, the session brought together 93 attendees to impart insights into strengthening team-based care through the Workforce Incentive Program – Practice Stream (WIP-PS), and introduce the integrated care continuum.

This framework provides an understanding of how practices evolve along the spectrum of collaboration, and is the basis for implementing effective models of multidisciplinary (MDT) care.

Attendees heard about PHN-led consultations with general practices, key findings from engagement activities, and enablers and barriers to implementing MDT into practice – often with WIP-PS funding.

Central to the program’s practical imperative, two real-life case studies were presented by general practices from within our region, sharing firsthand how they built and sustained team-based models tailored to their context.

Frances Cieslak from the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) also shared valuable insights into the role of nurses in multidisciplinary teams, and the importance of enabling them to work to full scope.

While time constraints meant the panel discussion could not go ahead as planned, participant feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Over 90 per cent of respondents rated the event as useful with many keen to see more peer-led sessions in the future.

This session was a great example of cross-PHN collaboration and the sector’s shared commitment to improving care coordination and sustainability in general practice.