On this page

1. Aim of the clinical community of practice
2. Governance
3. Clinical leads
4. This community of practice scope is not
5. Membership
6. Frequency of the community of practice
7. Guidelines and resources

Aim of the clinical community of practice

Health and Social Policy will provide an opportunity for sharing of ideas, strategies, local solutions and concerns with respect to COVID-19 pandemic preparedness.

The community of practice will be multidisciplinary and include representation from all districts and networks. It will enable clinicians and clinical managers in palliative care from all districts to provide expert advice and guidance to the system, and to escalate matters that require a statewide or system response.

The aim of these sessions is to:

• support clinicians to network and share strategies, local solutions and issues with respect to pandemic preparedness for palliative care
• identify, prioritise and escalate issues related to COVID-19 which are actually or potentially affecting clinicians providing palliative care that require a statewide or system response
• review and provide expert clinical advice on guidelines, resources and other information
• share Ministry approved advice and resources on the response to COVID-19 that can be circulated within all districts and networks.

Governance

• Executive sponsor: Deb Willcox, Deputy Secretary, Health System Strategy and Resources
• Clinical leads:
  • Professor Katherine Clark, Clinical Director of Palliative Care, Northern Sydney Local Health District and Conjoint Professor, The University of Sydney – katherine.clark@health.nsw.gov.au
  • Professor Richard Chye, Director, Sacred Heart, St Vincent’s Health Network – richard.chye@svha.org.au
• Community of practice secretariat:
• Health and Social Policy Branch – moh-palliativecare@health.nsw.gov.au
• Gemma Rafferty, Principal Policy Officer, HSPB – gemma.rafferty@health.nsw.gov.au
• Key stakeholders
  • Health and Social Policy Branch
  • ACI Palliative Care Network Executive members
  • districts and networks.

Health and Social Policy will escalate issues raised by the community of practice to Strategic Reform and Planning. Key information will be collected and distributed through MOH-COVID19-ClinicalAdvice@health.nsw.gov.au, which will be monitored by Strategic Reform and Planning.

Collated issues/advice will be escalated by Ms Willcox through to the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) and/or the State Health Emergency Operations Centre (SHEOC) as appropriate.

PHEOC and SHEOC responses will be provided to Strategic Reform and Planning and then to the community of practice secretariat(s).

Weekly community of practice updates will be provided to NSW Health Chief Executives.

Clinical leads

Each community of practice will have a clinical lead appointed by Deb Willcox, Deputy Secretary, Health System Strategy and Resources.

The clinical leads will:

• assist with the facilitation of the community of practice
• work with clinical peers in the districts and networks to share ideas and develop appropriate response strategies
• provide expert advice and guidance to the system and Ministry as required
• escalate relevant matters to the Ministry that require a statewide or system response
• provide expert advice to respond to media enquiries.

This community of practice scope is not

A group which is able to endorse statewide changes or make decisions that impact a unit or system or allocate funding to recommendations.

Membership

This community of practice is open to two clinical representatives from palliative care teams. As a minimum it will include representation from all districts and networks. However, membership may be extended more broadly to include all interested NSW Health staff as well as professional colleges, private providers/clinicians and other non-government organisations as appropriate to the clinical speciality.

To join the community of practice participants should email: MOH-palliativecare@health.nsw.gov.au

Frequency of the community of practice

Fortnightly on a Wednesday from 9am using Skype for business [or alternative platform]. Meeting frequency may be changed depending on the trajectory of the pandemic. Meeting details will be attached to the calendar invite.

Guidelines and resources