GPRC Winter 2022 Awareness Campaign

Feedback from our stakeholders and community members indicated that people with respiratory symptoms had difficulty seeing their regular GP (if they had one or if availability was limited), with many preferring to see a GP rather than attending busy Emergency Departments.  

GP Respiratory Clinics (GPRC) have been set up for exactly this – to provide the community with a local option of getting expert assessment and management of respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19. 

To help promote these clinics in our region, the North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN) Executive Team approved a public awareness campaign for the winter season.

Our campaign will include translated materials to target key culturally and linguistically diverse communities and will complement the Victorian Government’s broader ‘Stay Well this Winter’ campaign which launched early June 2022. The broader campaign will encourage people to get their flu and COVID-19 vaccinations, reinforce hygiene messages and highlight GPRCs as an option for people who can’t get to their own GP. NWMPHN’s campaign focuses solely on raising awareness: this winter, if you can’t get to your regular GP, a GPRC can help. The campaign will include radio and digital advertising.  

The campaign is currently active and will be evaluated upon completion. Its anticipated outcomes include:

•  increased awareness of GPRCs as an option when people can’t get a timely appointment with their own GP. This would be reflected in more traffic to the Victorian Department of Health’s GPRC page, which is the call to action (via an easier to remember URL GPRespiratoryClinics.org.au).
• reduced stress for people suffering from respiratory illnesses including COVID-19, especially for parents and carers of children aged 0 to 5 years old and older Victorians.