Bulletin - June, 2021
You get a Vaccine! You Get a vaccine!
Now that our dose allocation has reached 300 per fortnight, there will be a few changes to the rollout at a practice level:
- We'll be adding more clinics during July (2 Dose One clinics, with 1 Dose Two clinic) per week. This number will again jump once our anticipated allocation increases again in August.
- Nurses will be supervising Dose Two clinics once they commence in July. The Dose One clinic supervisors for the AM and PM sessions will be the rostered GP under whose name doses will be directed - this will mean that you'll likely receive calls throughout the day. Please see below for clinic details.
- To assist in workflow and minimise interruption, Room 106 will be used more frequently during the rollout.
It does need to be mentioned, but this work could not be possible without your support and volunteering. At time of writing, we have supplied just shy of 500 doses of vaccine to patients. However, as more patients opt for vaccination at Homebush or RPA clinics, cancellations are appearing more frequently, and we've been able to fill this gaps with eligible patients 'on the day'.
To capitalise on this for the benefit of our patients and to take advantage of our increased number of available doses, we are encouraging opportunistic vaccination of eligible patients. Please contact Aimee on the day (or before if you see a patient booked) and we will attempt to arrange a vaccine. We will also be sending a weekly inventory of dose numbers to keep everyone informed, as well as a WhatsApp message when a vial is opened.
NB: each vial contains roughly 11 doses, so if you have more than one patient eligible on the day (or within 48 hours), this would be the best use of resources!
| Date | AM Supervision | PM Supervision |
|---|---|---|
| 6/7 - Tues | McMULLEN | MAN |
| 7/7 - Wed | CONNELLAN | LIU |
| 14/7 - Wed | CONNELLAN | RICE |
| 15/7 - Thurs | McLEARIE | TRAN |
| 22/7 - Thurs | CONNELLAN | JIWANE |
| 23/7 - Fri | McMULLEN | CONNELLAN |
| 27/7 - Tues | KNOWLDEN | LIU |
| 30/7 - Fri | LIU | MAN |
| 2/8 - Mon | JIWANE | RICE |
| 10/8 - Tues | McLEARIE | TRAN |
| 18/8 - Wed | CONNELLAN | KNOWLDEN |
| 26/8 - Thurs | TRAN | CONNELLAN |
| 3/10 - Fri | RICE | RICE |
Expanding Available Space...
In addition to replacing the internal consult room chairs with high-strength and easy-to-clean plastic, we've also added a marquee and gas heaters to increase the overall size of our waiting area space for patients post-vaccine in order to help avoid overcrowding as the clinics continue.
While it does appear a little like a beer garden, the space itself is intended to be as functional and comfortable as possible!
Billing Accuracy...
While Telehealth has had significant advantages during COVID, it's important to remember the following:
- Admin staff cannot enter billing items for doctors; please ensure that you enter items for billing as soon as possible after concluding consults.
- Please ensure you use the correct item numbers for either video or telephone consults (e.g. 91800 is for a level B VIDEO consult, with 91809 for the TELEPHONE equivalent). Admin staff can modify this at the point of billing at your direction, but for the sake of accuracy , please use the correct items when billing - if a consult is in-person, please use the in-person items, and if done as Telehealth, please use the Telehealth equivalents.
- If a patient has not attended in person in the last twelve months, they are ineligible for ANY Medicare services (with a handful of exceptions for certain circumstances). Please also remember that if a patient has been billed for a care plan at ANY time in the last twelve months (minimum), their services renew at the beginning of the calendar year (i.e. for an MHCP, they are entitled to 6 sessions at the beginning of January), and a new care plan item does not need to be billed.
Sadder News...
All too soon, we will be saying 'farewell' to Dr Félicité Ross, and Sara Zanforlin.
Fé has decided to hang up her stethoscope, and will be retiring from clinical practice from the 30th June. She does so with the respect, admiration and gratitude of literally thousands of patients seen over a 50 year career, as well as countless colleagues and friends for whom she has, on so many occasions, gone above and beyond to offer the level of care that sets such a high standard for us all to follow. However, Fé has graciously offered to continue on as a vaccination supervisor to help us with COVID clinics as the Commonwealth program rolls on.
Although for a shorter period of time but no less worthy of recognition, Sara will be moving to Western Australia, and has decided that a daily commute of 5 hours (while comparable to Sydney traffic), is perhaps a bit far. Sara's contribution to what CSMP has become in the last five years will be difficult to measure, and may sadly only be fully realised when she finishes at the end of July.
We will be planning farewell celebrations for both these members of the CSMP family in due course...details to come!
Coming Events...
- Doctors' Committee: Thursday, 10th June, 1-2:30pm (Room 107/The Beer Garden)
- Practice Lunch: Thursday, 24th June 1-2:30pm (The Beer Garden)
