General practice quick updates for week beginning 14 September 2026
Updates for the week beginning Monday 14 September 2026.
Find this week’s quick updates and alerts for local general practices, covering the latest sector developments, education and training events, key health system updates, funding opportunities and clinical resources relevant to our region. Updates are grouped by focus area for easy reference.
For more information or tailored practice support, contact our Primary Care team at [email protected].
Important Updates
RACGP 6th Edition Standards – Striving for Excellence Webinar
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has developed the Standards for General Practices (6th Edition) to support the delivery of safe, high-quality healthcare in general practices across Australia.
Quality Practice Accreditation is hosting an online webinar on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM (AEST), providing a practical overview of the recently released RACGP Standards for General Practices (6th Edition) and their implications for your practice.
This session will help practices understand the new Standards, identify opportunities for improvement, and build sustainable systems that support both compliance and better outcomes for patients and the practice as a whole.
To register for the webinar, click here: Registration.
SYPH-TEMBER Awareness
During September, the Queensland Syphilis Surveillance Service (QSSS) focuses on the critical role of general practitioners in responding to the syphilis outbreak in our community. Clinicians are asked to reflect in each consultation, “Could this be Syphilis?”, and take time to Talk, Test, Treat, and Trace.
This week we focus on TEST.
Due to the outbreak of syphilis, all patients undergoing a sexually transmitted infection (STI) check, and all pregnancies should now be universally screened for syphilis.
There have been changes to the pregnancy screening guidelines due to the syphilis outbreak. Syphilis testing is now required for each trimester pregnancy, for all women, regardless of perceived risk.
Pregnant women require syphilis testing:
Before 10 weeks, AND
At 26-28 weeks, AND
At 36 weeks, AND
If syphilis status is unknown, or 36-week test was missed, then test at birth.
Universal screening is required due to the rise in syphilis notifications across Australia, resulting in increased congenital syphilis cases causing infant morbidity and death. Universal screening supports earlier diagnosis, timely treatment, and downstream prevention of transmission. Opportunistic testing is required when the screening times are missed.
Resources are available for clinicians in the assessment, identification, management, and follow-up of syphilis infection.
For more information, call QSSS on 1800 032 238.
Important issue that may affect some practices participating in the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI).
Services Australia is currently contacting practices where a potential GPACI overpayment has been identified due to an administrative error in a registration or record update. Incorrect records need to be corrected to ensure payments are accurate. Practices receiving an email or HPOS notification from Services Australia regarding a GPACI overpayment are strongly encouraged to review and respond as soon as possible to avoid future payment adjustments and additional follow-up.
What should you look out for?
Emails from Services Australia regarding GPACI overpayments
HPOS notifications requesting your review and response
Requests seeking consent to correct an incorrect registration or record update.
For further information regarding accurate GPACI registrations and record maintenance, refer to GPACI Hints and Tips to Ensure You Get Paid Correctly from the Services Australia Health Professional Education Resources website.
Healthpathways is getting a refreshed look – 17 September 2026
The HealthPathways site is being updated to make key information and commonly used actions easier to find.
The main changes include:
A simplified homepage focused on search, news, alerts, and updates. Quick links will move to the left-hand menu.
A more prominent search bar, making search the main starting point for finding information.
Improved toolbar for common actions, including CPD tracking, Expand/collapse, and a new feature to adjust content width on the page. Less frequently used actions will be available in the three-dot menu.
A revised content layout, with ‘About this page’, ‘Sources’, and ‘Contributors’ moving from the right-hand pane into the main page content.
Clearer identification of content that hasn’t been locally adapted for your region, making information sources easier to identify.
Simplified guidance for using HealthPathways, including support for account management, CPD tracking, and other common tasks.
Short in-product guidance will help you become familiar with the updated layout and understand where to find key information and actions.