General practice quick updates for week beginning 17 August 2026
Updates for the week beginning Monday 17 August 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
Webinar on symptom management in the terminal phase
Health professionals are invited to join a free webinar on symptom management in the terminal phase, presented by the Quality Use of Community Palliative Care Medicines project and Medcast.
The webinar will focus on:
the practical use of medicines from the National Core Community Palliative Care Medicines List to manage common end-of-life symptoms, including pain, dyspnoea, nausea, agitation and respiratory secretions
how to prescribe medications from the list safely and effectively in the community setting and addresses common uncertainty around medication choice, dosing, and route as patients approach the terminal phase.
Date: Wednesday, 2 September 2026, 7.00pm (AEST). One-hour CPD recognition
Paediatric Masterclass for General Practice
Registrations are now open for the annual Paediatric Masterclass for General Practice, hosted by Children’s Health Queensland. The annual Paediatric Masterclass for General Practice is the leading paediatric education event for GPs in Queensland. The masterclass is a full day seminar that brings medical experts and GPs together to learn about different health issues affecting children.
Event details
Date: Saturday 10 October 2026
Time: 8am-5pm
Location: Auditorium, Level 7, Queensland Children’s Hospital, South Brisbane
Cost:
$189 for a standard ticket
$149 for health professionals in training.
Contact
The Children’s Health Queensland GP liaison team organises the masterclass. If you'd like more information about the masterclass email [email protected].
Survey to support improvements to Real-time Prescription Monitoring
The Australian Digital Health Agency is inviting health practitioners to complete a short survey on Real-time Prescription Monitoring (RTPM). The survey seeks feedback on how RTPM is used in practice, including its integration with clinical workflows and its role in supporting safer prescribing and dispensing decisions.
Feedback will help inform ongoing improvements to RTPM and ensure the system continues to support safer medicines use across Australia.
The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and is open until 18 September 2026.
Click here to access the survey.
About RTPM
RTPM is nationally implemented digital health infrastructure. It provides authorised health practitioners with real-time access to an individual’s prescribing and dispensing history for medicines considered high-risk for potential harm or unsafe use, such as opioids and benzodiazepines. RTPM supports safer clinical decision-making at the point of care.
While RTPM is a national system, each state and territory governs its own variant of the system.
If you have any questions or require further information, please contact [email protected].