Collaborating to manage polypharmacy.

DiNCQUMGP (Divisions National Consortium for the Quality Use of Medicines in General Practice) reports on a collaboration between doctors, pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, and medicine users to manage polypharmacy (prescribing multiple medicines to a patient) amongst older people. We have reported the outcomes of our collaboration (improving the Quality Use of Medicines) elsewhere. Here we discuss how we worked together, opened up new opportunities, and learned from one another.

The quality of communication between hospitals and general practitioners: an assessment.

The objective of this study was to assess the quality of communications between hospitals and general practitioners (GPs). The proportion of medical records in which the patient's general practitioner (GP) was identified, the accuracy of medications recorded in the discharge summary, the proportion of GPs who received discharge summaries, and the timeliness of receipt of discharge summaries were all evaluated. Discussions were held with all stakeholders, the literature was reviewed and GPs were surveyed to identify potential measures of quality.

The Balmain Hospital General Practice Casualty: an alternative model of primary health care provision.

The Balmain Hospital General Practice Casualty is a unique casualty style service, staffed and run by local general practitioners. It is a joint initiative of the Central Sydney Area Health Service and the Division of General Practice, Central Sydney Area, and is jointly funded by the Area Health Service and the Commonwealth. The casemix seen and type of services provided suggest that the service is intermediate between that provided by general practitioners and that provided by emergency departments.