Department of Health

About general practice engagement

General practice engagement is the process of informing, consulting, collaborating or empowering general practitioners and general practice staff (Bensberg et al. 2007).

Informing general practice might mean:

  • disseminating information through general practice representative organisations
  • communicating directly with practices in the community in more urgent scenarios.

Consulting general practice might mean:

  • inviting a general practitioner, general practice nurse, or general practice manager representative onto a working group or steering committee to provide input
  • informally or formally asking for input from general practice representative organisations.

Collaborating with general practice might mean:

  • working closely with a general practice representative organisation to co-design or implement policies and programs that involve or have an impact on general practices and/or their patients
  • trialling a new service in a select group of practices.

Empowering general practice might mean:

  • planning and implementing a training program for general practice about policies or state legislation
  • providing tools and resources that assists or enables general practice to participate in departmental initiatives.

General practice engagement can occur with individual clinicians, individual practices, groups of practices, or general practice representative agencies.

The type of engagement you use will depend on the purpose of the engagement.

Reference

Bensberg M, Sutherland J and Crosbie C 2007, It takes more than a practice visit: effective general practice engagement, Australian Journal of Primary Health, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 17–21.

Reviewed 01 March 2017

Health.vic

Guide to Working with General Practice

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