Melbourne General Practice Network is a membership organisation for General Practitioners which provides services and activities of interest and assistance to our members and their practice staff. We are one of the largest in Australia with a membership of approximately 500 GPs, and have been operational since 1993.
Striving to improve the health of our diverse community
Through education, advocacy, research and support we encourage and foster open, collaborative and integrative models of health care that enable our members to provide and promote quality outcomes for the health needs of our community through excellence in the delivery of primary care services.
For funding purposes the following postcodes comprise our Divisional catchment: 3000-3003, 3005-3010, 3031, 3050-58, 3065-68, 3070, 3071, 3078, 3121, 3205 and 3207. GPs working within these postcode areas are encouraged to apply to become members of the Division. See also the MGPN division boundary map
MGPN boundaries - GPV has provided Google maps of division boundaries. See also other Victorian divisions.
The Melbourne General Practice Network covers the entire Melbourne Central Business District (CBD), and a substantial part of inner-urban Melbourne, and encompasses 3 separate council areas:
Within this urban catchment Melbourne General Practice Network interacts with a variety of organisations, including community health centres, the local area health authority and many specialised services.
Practice Locations: Google Map
There are six Community Health Centres in the region including:
Network members are employed in each of these services and a number of collaborative projects have been funded in the past.
The local area health authority is the Victorian State Department of Human Services.
The Melbourne General Practice Network maintains close links with that Department and the Primary Care Partnerships (PCPs):
Existing within the Network's catchment is a large number of specialised mental health services and organisations with responsibilities beyond local boundaries. These organisations include:
The location of these agencies in the region is relevant, given the high levels of serious mental health problems and the related issues of homelessness, poverty and substance misuse in the region. With this in mind, the division has a long-standing commitment to addressing the problems of mental health and homelessness, and has undertaken an extensive range of collaborative projects with many of these specialised services.
The Network's membership represents a mature market of 150 general practices, and turnover of ownership is low. The range of practice profiles reflects the need to accommodate both resident and transient populations, and to service niche markets and offer specialised services.
Many practices have stable histories of service within niche markets. For example, a number of general practices in the area provide services to specific ethnic groups, and there is significant anecdotal evidence from GPs in these practices that patients travel from outside the area to seek general practitioner services provided in the patients' own language. In particular, the Aboriginal Health Services is based within the Network's catchment and provides services to a large number of ATSI populations not resident within that area.
There are also 32 practices that specialise in other services such as women's health, sexual health, forensic health, breast screening and sports medicine. Other practices have a strong interest in particular patient groups such as drug and alcohol dependent patients, homeless patients, students and refugees.
There are 29 Residential Aged Care Homes in the catchment. Noticeably as these homes upgrade their facilities to meet new standards, we see them relocating to the outer urban areas.
An increasing resident population
Between the 1996 Census and the 2001 Census, the Division's population increased by 31,062 - an increase of 19.2%. The total resident population is currently 192,810. This "population explosion" within the MGPN catchment appears to have been due to a rapid influx of residents in the Melbourne CBD, as well as in the inner urban areas.
Overall, the resident population appears to be quite young - with 67% of the resident population 45 years of age or less.
The most populous areas in the Division's catchment area are:
Of particular interest is the growth of the population resident in the CBD area itself (i.e. the 3000 postcode). As at the 1996 Census date, a total of 7,882 persons were resident in the Melbourne CBD area. By contrast, as at the 2001 Census date, this had increased to 18,265 persons. This represents an increase in the resident population in the CBD area of 230%.
The Melbourne General Practice Network has a substantial transient population who commute into the area five days per week. Accordingly, in addition to the resident population of 192,810 persons located within the Melbourne General Practice Network catchment area, there is a transient workforce population in excess of 400,000 people.
The general practices and other health services located in the Melbourne GP Network catchment have been established to service both the resident population and the significant transient workforce population.
Primary health care needs and delivery
The range of population characteristics, burden of disease, and plethora of agencies within the Network's catchment combine to confront the Network with a broad range of primary health care directions. As 50% of patients attending GPs have chronic diseases, and 80% of admissions to hospitals are related to chronic diseases, the Network has chosen to develop a generic system for delivering best practice in the management of chronic diseases such as COPD, hypertension, cardiac failure, ischaemic heart disease, asthma, diabetes and mental health:
In addition, the Network will continue to seek opportunities to deliver services and activities as a direct consequence of separately funded programs and activities, for example:
Finally, a medical response plan in emergency and disaster planning that specifically involves general practitioners (and their patients) located in the Melbourne General Practice Network catchment area is required. Melbourne CBD and inner urban Melbourne have the potential to experience large scale disasters and/or emergencies, if only because Melbourne hosts a number of high profile activities - such as the Commonwealth Games - which are attended by large numbers of people.
Integration with hospital based services
Three health care networks operate within the Network region, comprising eight hospital campuses including, in addition to two major tertiary campuses, a large range of specialist campuses. In addition there are numerous private hospitals in the region.
MGPN has established formal "Heads of Agreement" with four of these public hospital networks. The Network has facilitated GPs' employment in liaison positions in a number of the hospitals. MGPN works closely with three hospitals, in particular through State funded HARP projects. One of the key issues being addressed is improving discharge and referral communications between GPs and hospitals.
Engaging general practice at the local level
The Network intends to continue its focus on GP and practice engagement with the aims of:
Local strategic directions in relation to the national priority areas
The Network's directions mirror the Federal Government's national priority areas. Although a completely different set of priorities could be established based on the niche groupings (socioeconomic and demographic) evident within the catchment, funding restraints mean the network must limit its activities if it is to achieve real outcomes in particular areas. Thus MGPN has chosen to focus upon achieving outcomes within the context of the key chronic diseases. The catchment of the Network has not only a white middle class population at risk of chronic disease, but also large numbers of homeless people with attendant chronic diseases, and ethnic populations with particularly high morbidity rates from chronic diseases.
Local strategic directions include:
Strategic directions also encompass the manner in which the Network will deliver its activities. The Melbourne General Practice Network has strong links with neighbouring divisions and makes good use of cross-divisional activities to enhance the impact of Network activities. The IT/IM education activities, Diabetes Alliance Group, Respiratory Alliance Group and Aged Care Program are cross-divisional activities.
The Division received accreditation with the Quality Improvement Council in 2005.
To view a copy of Melbourne General Practice Network's Complaints Policy click here.
Please call:
Stacey Maher
Operations Manager
Phone: (03) 9347 1188
Email: stacey.maher@mgpn.com.au
