| Project Objectives / Summary:
The project aimed to create and reinforce linkages for GPs and their patients with community organisations, in particular organisations which provide services to disadvantaged youth, older population groups & socio-economically disadvantaged groups in the south.
The hotline was established as a means to address a lack of knowledge about local community service options by GPs for their consumers and in order to increase referrals to local services from GPs.
The hotline is an extension of the existing community information service Health Connection, which was operating from the Noarlunga Health Service (NHS). The Division provided funding for a halftime information officer which enabled the service to become fully operational during business hours Monday - Friday. They also incorporated the SDGP Directory of Medical Specialists & Directory of Mental Health Resources to the Community Information Strategies of Australia (CISA) database.
Project Collaboration:
The GP Hotline was a joint initiative of the Southern Division of General Practice and the Noarlunga Health Services (NHS).
Project Outcomes:
The project objectives were to:
- Create & reinforce links between GPs and service providers working with the identified target groups;
- Achieve increased patient referrals to local services from GPs;
- Promote a broad concept of health promotion amongst a wider group of GPs by promoting access to services using case studies;
- Sensitise GPs to culturally appropriate approaches for the targeted groups; and
- Promote patient access to GPs in the southern region.
Methodology:
- Extension and promotion of the Health Connection Telephone Information Service
- GPs integrating with Health Promotion & Community Service Providers
A GP directory for patients
- Practice visits and attendance at CME events to promote community based resources.
The Hotline was extended within the parameters of Health Connection, a telephone service auspiced by NHS within the outer southern metropolitan region.
A sample of 20 GPs responses were used in / as the evaluation of the project. It shows that 26% (42 of a possible 122) of GPs within the region utilised the Hotline resource. Of this group 45% (19) utilised the Hotline more than once. Evaluation showed that requests for mental health information and services were recorded most frequently and accounted for 1 in 4 Hotline calls. Information about services for people with specific medical conditions and allied health services accounted for another 25% of Hotline uses. Although the sample size is small, the findings suggest the project achieved its objectives.
The project team utilised several promotional strategies for the Hotline, including:
- promotional gift baskets in 22 practices in the outer southern metropolitan region;
- promotional visits to several practices (11 inner & 2 outer southern metro);
- letters to practice managers, promotional telephone stickers & posters mailed to all practices in the inner and outer southern metro regions;
- articles in SDGP NewsDesk, promotion at CME events and the Doctors' Association Meeting; and
- Follow up letters to users of the Hotline service.
Recommendations:
- Need to bring in marketing people and others (not just doctors and nurses) to advise on how to communicate effectively with GPs in the context of ever increasing amounts of paper - there is already too much A4 paper with black text.
- Regular reminders and more of a presence at GP forums and meetings.
- More time to build relationships with GPs on a one-to-one basis - to build trust.
- It would be timely to negotiate a more formal service agreement with the NHS
Disseminating Project Information:
- SDGP NewsDesk (Division newsletter)
- CME events
- The GP Directory is being widely distributed to Councils, Community Health Centres & community organisations in the southern region.
- NHS productions
- Health Promotion quarterly
- The findings and achievements will be written up and presented at SACHRU conference, HP conference, SEU workshop and wherever other opportunities exist.
Lessons / Assessment:
- A number of barriers to GPs use of the Hotline, were identified:
- The time factor;
- Information overload;
- Established ways of working;
- Impermanence of many of the services and programs offered by community organisations; &
- Demographics of the practice population.
- Conversely, the record of Hotline calls showed that the information needs of GPs encompassed a broader array of concerns / requests than the Hotlines was established to meet.
- Overall, the project showed that use of the Hotline was beneficial but the relatively brief duration of the project (and perhaps the issue of access to additional funding) left doubts about its sustainability. The lessons, however, are transferable as they relate particularly to change management issues.
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