Objective 8.3:
Skill up our workforce
Action 8.3.3:
Increase investment in professional development that builds capability to respond to complex alcohol and other drug use and mental health issues
Brisbane North PHN provided project support to assist Lives Lived Well in conducting a Workshop facilitated by an Addiction Medicine Specialist to increase the number of registered prescribers of Opioid Replacement in the Moreton Bay region. Spurred on by the decline in skilled Opioid Replacement Therapy providers in the Brisbane North region, Lives Lived Well initiated the free event in Caboolture, aiming to upskill General Practitioners and Allied Health Professionals around best practice for managing people with problematic substance use.
A secondary impetus for the Workshop was to assist developing practitioner competency in addressing presentations of people using crystal methamphetamine (ICE) and other ongoing problems around legal and prescription drugs, and reduce stigma surrounding ambulatory detoxification.
Key achievements
As a direct result of the workshop, two more GPs are in the process of becoming registered prescribers in the Caboolture GP Health Hub. The relationship between the Hub and Lives Lived Well has further been enhanced, with the LLW Detox team and Manager collaborating to support a holistic approach and providing a seamless referral pathway for people accessing support for their substance use.
Key learnings
Demonstrating support for vital initiatives like this means that the PHN builds stronger relationships into the AOD sector, and provides opportunities, through our partnering agencies, to enhance the skills of GPs and Allied Health professionals in the region. In creating a skill sharing space, access to a highly skilled addiction medicine specialist means that peer to peer exchange at the practitioner level is reinforced.
What’s next?
The collaboration between Lives Lived Well and the Caboolture GP health Hub has been so effective that LLW and their Detox team have been invited to co-locate, meaning service users will have access to onsite detox, counselling, case management and primary care, with a prescriber friendly pharmacist and pharmacy also co-located.
