Building Nurse Capacity - improving patient outcomes

Nursing in Primary Health Care Program 2018 - 2022

On 8 May 2018, the Australian Government announced it will help strengthen the role of nurses in delivering primary health to meet the future health care needs of the Australian community. As part of this announcement, ongoing funding for the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) was included in the Budget - the "Nursing in Primary Health Care (NiPHC)" Program.

The "Building Nurse Capacity (BNC) - improving patient outcomes" project is part of this program and builds on the work completed in the Enhanced Nurse Clinic (ENC) project—more details below. 

The BNC project will focus on the development of nurse-led (team-based) models of care which improve patient outcomes, in a range of primary health care settings, to increase the capacity of the primary health care team. 

This project will support a maximum of 35 nurses and their primary healthcare organisation, in two 18 month intakes, to implement nurse-led (team-based) models of care. Grant funding will be available for successful applicants. 

Project dates:

• Group 1: February 2019 - July 2020 (17 participants)
• Group 2: October 2020 - March 2022 (18 participants). Applications for Group 2 will open in July 2020

Contact Details
For more information call APNA on 1300 303 184 and speak to Linda Govan, Project Manager, or email buildingnursecapacity@apna.asn.au

Successful Building Nurse Capacity applicants - Group one

ACT

Well Women's Health Screening clinic, Gungahlin Medical Practice, Gungahlin, ACT

A Woman's Reproductive Health Service, the proposed model will focus on the early identification and management of women's sexual and reproductive health concerns.

NSW

Perinatal Wellness Clinic, Busby Medical Practice, Bathurst, NSW

A nurse-led perinatal mental health and early parenting support clinic, providing personalised and timely support and advice for new mothers and families in the perinatal period. The clinic aims to increase access to high quality perinatal mental health care and parenting support.  

Healthy Lifestyle Clinic, North Nowra Medical Practice, North Nowra, NSW

A nurse-led healthy lifestyle clinic for patients with chronic disease. The aim of the clinic is to provide education to small groups for 1.5 hrs weekly for 8 weeks, focusing on improvements in physical and mental health by improving lifestyle choices. 

The Wellness Clinic, The Wellness Family Medical Centre, Orange, NSW

The Wellness Clinic will actively seek to work with populations with chronic disease, to enable planned proactive chronic disease management care, focusing on delivering nurse-led care within a multidisciplinary team. The focus will be on the provision of care planning that is patient centred, focussed on patient's goals and engaging with patient's using health coaching techniques. 

QLD

Cancer survivorship clinic, Bloomhill Cancer Care, Buderim, QLD

Survivorship provides a focus on the health and well-being of a person living with and beyond cancer.The nurse clinic will target patients with cancer, once they have completed their initial treatment phase. The model is based on the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia's survivorship guidelines and incorporates the five principles of Cancer Survivorship as identified by Cancer Australia.

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Nurse Lead Clinic, Mackay Family Medical Practice, Mackay, QLD

A nurse-led clinic that will provide a free comprehensive health check for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander patients. By improving patient engagement within a culturally sensitive service, the clinic aims to contribute to “closing the health and life expectancy gap" for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

TASMANIA

Men’s Health Outreach Clinic, Cygnet Family Practice, Cygnet, TAS

Cygnet Family Practice's mission is to provide kind, holistic healthcare with a community spirit. The team at Cygnet Family Practice have identified a gap in service for rural men to access healthcare and have developed an outreach nursing service, targeting the local RSL club and a local business with 95% male employees. 

VICTORIA

The "Good On Ya" Clinic, Turn the corner medical clinic, Northcote, VIC 

The "Good On Ya" Clinic will provide a primary healthcare services for young people at a reduced cost. After hours appointments will be offered to accommodate those who are in full-time study or employment. Turn the corner medical clinic is set up to be appealing to young people and will offer usual general practice services but with a focus on preventative, screening, health promotion and education related to sexual health, reproductive health, healthy lifestyle and vaccine preventable disease. 

Peri-diagnostic Dementia Support Service (PoDDS), Hospital Admission Risk Program (HARP) Ballarat Health Services (BHS), Ballarat, VIC

An advanced practice primary health care, nurse-led care coordination service for people and their support person(s) in the adjustment period prior to and following diagnosis of dementia in the Cognitive Dementia and Memory Service (CDAMS) at Ballarat Health Services. This specialised nurse-led community based service will be based within HARP and aims to improve the psycho-social-medical healthcare outcomes for people impacted by a diagnosis of a dementia who are socially isolated. 

Mental Health and AOD Clinic, Reid's Guesthouse, Uniting Victoria & Tasmania Ltd., Ballarat, VIC

A nurse practitioner led clinic, based within existing crisis accommodation at Reid’s Guest House, Ballarat, a fifty-three-bed emergency accommodation facility. The clinic will provide alcohol and drug (AOD) and mental health interventions and address general and mental health conditions of the most vulnerable people in the local community. This clinic will align with the homelessness stream of Uniting. 

Better Breathing Wellness Clinic, Springs Medical (General Practice), Daylesford, VIC

The Springs Medical Better Breathing Wellness Clinic will be a nurse-led, collaborative and multidisciplinary clinic model supporting patient self-management. The overall aims of the clinic are to improve identification of patients with respiratory conditions including asthma and COPD and to improve engagement with care. Smoking cessation, spirometry, asthma education and allergy clinics will support improved care.

Healthy Ageing in Prison clinic (Langi Kal Kal Prison) Ararat, VIC

The "Healthy Ageing in Prison" clinic will deliver preventative care and health promotional activities using a nurse-led model of care for prisoners aged over 65 years. The focus will be on preventative care, including  nurse-led cardiac, pulmonary and diabetes consultations together with practical health promotion activities such as falls and balance classes. The "Healthy Ageing in Prison" clinic will enable nurses to address priority health and wellbeing issues for the ageing prisoner population. 

Hepatitis C Hub, Pritchard Health, Geelong region, VIC

A specialized Hepatitis C clinic for screening, assessment and treatment. The long term vision is to eradicate Hepatitis C in Geelong with a broader plan to eradicate Hepatitis C across the Barwon/Otway Region.

Health and Wellness Coaching, Whole Medicine (Peninsula Holistic GP), Rosebud, VIC

A 13 week health and wellness coaching program, designed to assist patients with a diagnosed chronic disease, to gain confidence, knowledge and skills to pursue their health and wellness goals. 

Iron clinic, Junction Place Medical Centre, Hawthorn East, VIC

A nurse clinic focused on providing improved access to effective and safe treatment for patients experiencing iron related health conditions.

South Australia 

Healthy ageing clinic, Allenby Gardens Family Practice, Allenby Gardens, SA

Targeted service delivery to frail patients as well as those at risk of frailty, through the provision of enhanced access for elderly through in home health assessments, increase knowledge of patients about care options, and improve timeliness of care through flexible points of access modes including telephone. 

Western Australia 

"Be well, stay well" health coaching clinic, Panaceum Group, General Practice, Geraldton, WA

With a focus on the 40-49 age range, the clinic will focus on preventative health measures and health coaching. The health coaching approach is to enable patients to take control of their health and assist them to find sustainable and meaningful approaches to managing their own health

APNA’s Enhanced Nurse Clinics project 2016 - 2018 has been completed

Commencing in 2016, APNA’s Enhanced Nurse Clinics project, funded from the Australian Government Department of Health under the Nursing in Primary Health Care Program, supported the establishment of 11 nurse clinics, Australia-wide. These innovative models of care were based in a range of primary health care settings. Eleven sites were selected in metropolitan, rural and remote locations, based on local population health needs. Three sites were selected from the 2014 - 2015 Nursing in General Practice (NiGP) Program after successfully developing models of innovation. The Enhanced Nurse Clinics project was finalised in June 2018.

The Enhanced Nurse Clinic project provided significant learnings to support the uptake of innovative, effective clinical care delivered by nurses within the primary healthcare setting. These include the development of a series of case studies highlighting five nurse clinic models, the development of a modular and replicable process for developing nurse clinics (“the building blocks”) and a range of other resources – all available here on the APNA website. The learnings from the Enhanced Nurse Clinic project will be included in the next project phase of Nursing in Primary Health Care Programme - Building Nurse Capacity Project.