Overview
GPQ has worked with Improvement Foundation to role out the Australian Primary Care Collaboratives (APCC) and Quality Improvement Skills Program (QuISP) in Queensland and has a Program Coordinator (Regional Manager) employed to support these activities.The APCC Program helps general practitioners (GPs) and primary health care providers work together to improve patient clinical outcomes, reduce lifestyle risk factors, help maintain good health for those with chronic and complex conditions and promote a culture of quality improvement in primary health care. Ultimately, the APCC Program aims to find better ways to provide primary health care services to patients through shared learning, peer support, training, education and support systems.
The Collaboratives methodology, designed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in the USA, provides a generic quality improvement model that can be applied to achieve incremental, rapid and locally relevant improvements across a broad range of clinical and practice business issues.
The topics to be addressed in the first and second phases of the APCC Program are Diabetes, the Secondary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease, and Improved Access to primary care.
The new topic areas of Cardiovascular Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and Chronic Disease Prevention and Self Management (CDPSM) were introduced to practices via a national wave that was started in September 2009.
Resources
Further information
To find out more about the APCC in Queensland please contact:Melissa Williams, Regional Manager on 3105 8300 or mwilliams@gpqld.com.au