GFMP run2cure
GFMP wishes to thank Dr Charlotte Hespe, Dr Jennifer Gunn, Dr Rosalind Ghosh, Dr Vanessa Wood and RN Roshni Patel for participating in the run2cure fund raising event in support of Neuroblastoma research.
Prize winning practice
Central and Eastern Sydney PHN would like to congratulate Glebe Family Medical Practice on being selected as the RACGP NSW Practice of the Year.
NSW Practice of the Year recognises a practice’s superior level of service to all of its stakeholders – patients, practitioners and staff.
The award recognises accreditation status, outstanding GP and staff qualifications, services offered and the facility itself. The winning practice has demonstrated a commitment to patient care through recalls, education and proactive care as well as community integration and GP training.
“I think it’s wonderful that our community based practice has been recognised as NSW RACGP practice of the year. The entire team at Glebe Family Medical Practice deserves this award for the consistently high quality of patient-centred care they provide. In particular with our socio-economic vulnerable population through strong positive partnerships within the community,” the Practice Manager, Jacqui Ellsmore said.
GFMP is very excited to have been named the RACGP 2018 NSW practice of the year!
Glebe-Leichhardt PCYC has a great range of youth programs designed to assist local kids to stay safe, active and heading in the right direction.
They also have a fantastic mix of activities for the whole community, including a very affordable fitness centre and group accommodation facilities at 2 Minogue Crescent, Glebe.
https://www.pcycnsw.org.au/glebe-leichhardt/
Gunawirra is a not-for-profit PBI organisation made up of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal professionals working side by side for fundamental improvements in the life of Aboriginal families, their infants and children
Glebe Family Medical Practice are proud supporters of Glebe Tree House.
The Glebe TreeHouse is a safe place for families with young children to come together, share experiences and seek and provide support. It is situated in the school grounds next to the Centipede Before and After School Care Centre.
Programs at the centre include playgroups, parent support programs, education and employment pathways, nutrition, health and literacy programs, community events and much more.
http://www.glebe-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/community/glebe-school-community-centre
2018 Influenza Immunisations are now available at GFMP
Glebe based GP and medical educator from the University of Notre Dame, Dr Charlotte Hespe, has long been involved in charitable work through her church community at St Barnabas Broadway, Sydney.
But when given the opportunity to use her medical skills abroad, Dr Hespe realised ‘charity’ wasn’t the answer.
“I took part in a medical mission to the Philippines in 2010, following a major flood that had occurred, displacing a small church community from Manilla,” Dr Hespe said.
“The government had resettled them in a tiny rural village south east of the city of Manilla, called Calauan.
“They were living in concrete besser block homes with no electricity, no running water and no access to shops, work, education or fresh food.”
While the need was clearly there, Charlotte knew that the level of help she and her colleagues could provide on a short, one-off medical mission wouldn’t be enough to make a difference to the community.
“The initial medical mission was a very one dimensional experience, I felt like we were just there to provide momentary western medical ‘magic’ and was horrified that we weren’t really doing anything to improve health on a broader scale,” she said.
“It felt like the mission was all about making ‘us’ feel good, rather than creating real change for the people we were meant to be helping.”
After returning home to Australia, Charlotte worked with her fellow volunteers at St Barnabas “Barneys” to come up with a plan that would not only provide ongoing support but also empower the community to support itself.
“Our goal was to improve the general health and vitality of the community, through the provision of health care, but also through education—the idea was to provide the hook rather than the fish.”
Raising money for a number of infrastructure, education and health provision projects, Charlotte called on her first and second year medical students from Notre Dame University in Sydney to assist her with the program.
“I first took students over to Calauan in 2013 and it has grown exponentially ever since—I now have a team of two other medical teachers who come with me twice a year, with each visit focusing on a growing number of identified areas of medical need,” Dr Hespe said.
“We provide full medicals, access to medication, and employ a full time community nurse who can supervise the medical program and medications, making it easier for people to maintain a commitment to their health without having to go to the city. She also oversees a long term health education program with the community members.
“We have also established a women’s health clinic, where we use a third world pap screening test which allows us to diagnose on the spot—we have performed almost 600 tests and picked up a couple of cancers, so it’s definitely been worthwhile.”
The team are now providing regular dental checks and preventive care as part of their healthcare offer, and will be taking their first dentistry students from Charles Sturt University along with them in November.
In addition to medical and dental assistance Charlotte and her students have also overseen the community in building mushroom farms, chicken and goat breeding programs, as well as teaching them to grow vertical gardens using fresh soil from their own worm farms.
“After three years of conducting the program we have established a wonderful sense of trust with the local community because they know we’re coming back.
“The Team Philippines program has given the community an opportunity to make choices about their health and wellbeing, it’s not about charity, it’s about empowerment.”
Glebe Family Medical Practice were the winners of the 2015 Sydney City Business Excellence in Innovation award.
This award recognises businesses that have made significant contributions to their industry through the introduction or improvement of an idea, method, technology, process or application.
Glebe Family Medical Practice run Quality improvement (QI) interventions and assess specific health measures to see if they can make a difference over the short and longer term. To do this, they use a specialised data extraction tool called PenCAT which helps them target specific issues or health campaigns using demographics such as age or illnesses. This was recently successfully implemented with the annual immunisation campaign and aligning it with a targeted screening for the presence of Atrial Fibrillation (AF) in the over 65 aged patients.
“This award is great recognition for all the hardworking staff at the Practice who work tirelessly to improve the health of our local community,” said Jacqui Ellsmore, Practice Manager, Glebe Family Medical Centre.
Dr Charlotte Hespe was the founding Director of the Central Sydney Division of General Practice (CSGPN) and Sydney Institute of General Practice Education and Training (GPSynergy). She is currently Chair of the Inner West Sydney Medicare Local and GP Synergy and Deputy Chair, NSW/ACT RACGP Faculty. Charlotte is Head of GP research and conjoint Head of General Practice at University of Notre Dame, Australia, School of Medicine Sydney.
CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR WORK AS A GP?
I work in a group practice in inner city Glebe. I love working in Glebe as there is a real diversity among our patients. We have several half way houses, drug rehab centres, and supported housing communities, which include a reasonably large Aboriginal population. There are also very wealthy retirees and empty nesters living on the harbour, and a lot of students coming in from the three Universities and large TAFE in the area. As a GP I like to do everything, but I seem to have gathered some expertise in working with people who are Transgender, particularly those needing medical assistance in transition procedures. I also undertake a lot of antenatal care and women’s health, diabetes and travel medicine, not to mention lots of counselling. What I really love about our practice is that we really work as a team. We meet twice a week for a group Doctors meeting and for a clinical supervision meeting, where we debrief about how to manage the Dr/patient relationship for the best outcomes.
WHAT FIRST SPARKED YOUR INTEREST IN RESEARCH?
I have always been interested in understanding why we do what we do, and wanting to understand the principles of best practice. I have also felt that primary care is poorly researched, and that this is why a lot of GPs seem to disregard guidelines, as they feel they are written by academics in hospitals with no understanding of what happens at the coal face.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?
I have several small projects on the go, but the basis of my PhD is: Reducing CV Disease: Translating an evidence-based quality improvement tool into “real-world” general practice. This project specifically seeks to help GPs use their existing medical software to translate evidence-based guidelines into everyday clinical practice. It will provide GPs with an integrated desk top tool to help identify patients with high CVD risk and also support General Practices in a “whole of practice” method of monitoring and improving prevention strategies for these patients.
CAN YOU TELL US SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR CAREER?
Working with my local Division of General Practice and Medicare Local over the last 14 years has been really rewarding. It’s been great to see how our work is starting to improve health outcomes for our local communities. In addition to this, working as Clinical Chair for the Improvement Foundation over the last five years has been a real highlight. It has been humbling to see the great ideas and innovative projects that practices have come up with to solve health problems.
HAVE YOU HAD ANY MENTORS THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER? WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU RECEIVED?
Before I had even considered general practice as a career Di O’Halloran told me that I would be a great GP—it turned out to be excellent advice, as it has ended up being the best career choice I could have made! Another mentor, Michael Kidd, encouraged me to always say ‘yes’ when asked to do something. This attitude has led me into health governance, quality improvement work and research—all of which have guided me into my current role and PhD project.
HOW DO YOU ENSURE YOUR RESEARCH IS USED IN PRACTICE AND POLICY SETTINGS?
As a clinician I am very clinically focussed and have always looked for practical ways to translate research into practice. I really feel that all the projects I am involved in are focussed on improving what we can do, and are doing, in the clinic.
WHERE DO YOU SEE PRIMARY HEALTH CARE IN THE FUTURE?
I dream of having a really patient centred medical home model of primary health care. A model where the patients’ needs are the focus at all times with a central accessible medical ‘home’ that oversees and coordinates the best and most appropriate care as needed. This means that our current model of health care will need to adapt and morph, with changes to funding and how we interact in teams rather than in silos.
WHAT ARE YOUR RESEARCH GOALS FOR THE FUTURE?
I dream of being able to understand how to assist practices in becoming better at everything that they do, without it being onerous or too regimental. I am hoping that by understanding what makes practices work really well, as well as what doesn’t work so well, that I can help to inform the ways we develop models of care and medical practice.
