General practice quick updates for week beginning 24 August 2026
Updates for the week beginning Monday 24 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
New poster to encourage patients to update their records – accreditation requirement
Routinely updating patients’ lifestyle information is an important part of RACGP accreditation requirements. Regularly review and record your patients’ BMI, smoking status, alcohol intake, and physical activity levels to keep health records accurate and current.
The Lifestyle Information Poster can help guide these conversations with patients. For people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, the symbols can assist communication and make it easier to discuss key health questions. Keeping lifestyle information up to date supports preventive care, chronic disease management, and quality improvement in general practice.
Access and print the poster from the website. If you have any questions, please contact the General Practice Quality Improvement team on Ph. 38647540 or email [email protected].
Reminder: legislative changes to My Health Record come into effect on 1 October 2026. Is your general practice compliant?
Healthcare organisations participating in My Health Record must comply with relevant legislation, including having a security and access policy.
The My Health Records Rule 2016 (the 2016 Rule) has been replaced with the My Health Records Rules 2026 (the 2026 Rules), effective 1 April 2026. The 2026 Rules incorporate several key changes - including user account management, training and security measures, and a new requirement for responding to My Health Record data breaches. In addition to the policy itself, organisations must keep records showing how the policy has been applied.
Organisations registered with the My Health Record system before 1 April 2026, must update their security and access policy by 1 October 2026, in line with the 2026 Rules. Organisations registering for My Health Record from 1 April 2026, must develop a security and access policy in accordance with the 2026 Rules.
The policy (outlining access to My Health Record, training provided to staff and each iteration of the policy) must now be kept for 5 years. Evidence of how the organisation identifies who can access My Health Record and how data breaches will be managed and security measures must be kept for 2 years.
It is recommended that all organisations review the 2026 Rules and ensure their security and access policy complies with applicable participation requirements.
Help improve medication safety for your patients — join the OPTMED-D study
More than 50% of medication errors reportedly occur during transition of care*. Patients at higher risk of hospital readmission due to medication-related harm may benefit from post-discharge medication review services such as MedsCheck at their local pharmacy or a Home Medicines Review (HMR) conducted by a credentialed pharmacist.
Through the OPTMED-D study GPs with consenting patients treated at participating hospitals are provided with:
a list of credentialed pharmacists to facilitate HMR referrals for patients at high risk of hospital readmission
a copy of the MedsCheck report from participating community pharmacies for patients at moderate risk of hospital readmission.
The study’s researchers understand that timely medication review is key to reducing potential for patient harm and including discharge information may be useful for such reviews.
Read the full OPTMED-D study article for more information about the study andavailable resources to support GPs. For any queries, contact the study team at: [email protected]
*Reference: Medication Management at Transitions of Care Stewardship Framework