Victorian healthcare workers are now eligible to receive their COVID-19 vaccination. Eligible workers within phase 1 of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout include a range of healthcare workers across health services, private practices and community settings.

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The National Transport Commission (NTC), in collaboration with Austroads, is reviewing Assessing Fitness to Drive in preparation for the release of an updated version later this year. A draft of the updated guidelines is now available for public consultation.

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The following new and amended Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme listings were implemented on 1 May: Trastuzumab emtansine, Ritalin LA and Concerta, Cannabidiol, and Mesalazine. 

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Following a review of the available stock of AstraZeneca vaccine, the Commonwealth Department of Health has increased allocations to general practice, with the first priority being those practices which are currently receiving 50 and 100 doses per week.

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Minister for Regional Health the Hon Mark Coulton officially opened the new office of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) on Thursday 29 April 2021.

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Asthma Australia is now offering an online course - Fundamentals in Spirometry. Spirometry is the best practice approach to asthma diagnosis and ongoing monitoring in general practice. Register for online spirometry training between 9 March and 25 June 2021 and you will go into the draw to win a Medikro® Primo Spirometer (compatible with the Medikro inline bacterial/viral filter).

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The Benefits Integrity and Digital Health Division of the Department of Health has advised the College that it intends to contact some GPs within the next week regarding potentially non-compliant claiming patterns for MBS telehealth services.

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The Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) is currently trialling the use of an online cause of death certificate, for deaths in Queensland. They are seeking rural medical practitioners to join the trial.

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The Government has agreed to further extend the Continued Dispensing emergency arrangements until 31 December 2021 while COVID-19 continues to put pressure on our health resources.

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The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has released a draft Low Back Pain Clinical Care Standard for consultation.

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Primary Health Tasmania is seeking to fill 4 positions on both their Clinical and Community Advisory Councils. These Councils support the Board and provide informed professional and local perspectives on how to improve Tasmania’s health system and meet the unique health needs of our local communities.

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On behalf of the Commonwealth Department of Health, the Australian Digital Health Agency advises that the SMS subsidy funding currently applied to the sending of electronic prescription tokens will be further extended from 31 March 2021 to 30 June 2021.

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The 17th World Rural Health Conference, led by the Rural Health Working Group of WONCA, has endorsed its rural health blueprint, the ‘Bangladesh Declaration 2021’.

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This year's International Women's Day theme #choosetochallenge is a powerful callout for everyone to work together towards gender equality. A first thought might be that this seems an aggressive call to arms, but it isn’t – as individuals we can all choose how, when and where we work to make change in our daily lives to make our workplaces equitable for all.

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The current release of Bp Premier product, ‘Saffron’, has the ability to record COVID-19 vaccination data including a valid serial number. While the recording of the vaccine data is now available, Best Practice is currently in the final stages of testing with Services Australia to ensure the vaccinations can be uploaded to the Australian Immunisation Registry via software to support the practices participating in the Phase 1B of the COVID-19 rollout.

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The National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce, which ACRRM is a part of, is commencing consultation on the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) guideline., and welcome frontline health care workers who have direct patient facing roles to join the IPC Frontline Healthcare Workers’ Consultation. They are currently seeking expressions of interest for participants to join the committee.

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Recent legislative changes have simplified recognition of General Practitioners (GPs) as specialists, streamlining access to higher Medicare rebates for your patients. GP access to Medicare will be determined by continued registration status with Ahpra. Medical practitioners who have been awarded fellowship must be registered as a Specialist GP with Ahpra.

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Newly passed legislation will see COVID-19 vaccines, once approved for use and administered in Australia, reported to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). The new legislation also requires all Influenza vaccinations to be reported to AIR from 1 March 2021, with all other National Immunisation Program vaccinations to be reported from 1 July 2021 (such as MMR, HPV and pertussis vaccines). Previously reporting to AIR was at the discretion of vaccination providers with seasonal flu vaccinations, only reported at a rate of about 50%.

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While accredited activities you attend are reported by the education provider, we encourage you to self-report all your other professional development activities into your PD portfolio as this is a way to capture your everyday learning and reflect the real time spent on professional development.

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We’ve been making improvements to your PD portfolio and you might have noticed some new features including a professional development resources section and explanatory text in the ‘Add activity’ form to help you find the right category and a feedback button. You can also edit and delete most self-entered activities, so you have more control over your own professional development records.

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