https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8uwAinYJoU
COVID Positive Pathways
Primary care management of COVID-19 patients in our region.
Page last updated: 3:30pm, 28 January 2022
Background information
The COVID Positive Pathways (C+P) program is the Victorian statewide program for assessment and management of COVID-19 patients.
Public hospitals, primary and community health care providers, Primary Health Networks and GPs offer pathways that are relevant and responsive to each local service system and population. The C+P program is coordinated by the Victorian Department of Health.
Our Local Public Health Unit map is available to help you understand the local C+P catchments. Clinicians may wish to use this information to get in contact with other pathways programs to either:
- refer patients who are known to you but reside in another catchment area; or
- to follow up on patients known to you. For example: a confirmed case (from being a close contact of a current patient) who you wish to confirm is in a care pathway.
There are 2 localised C+P programs operating in the North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN) region:
- West Metro Health Service Partnership C+P program (covers most of the NWMPHN region)
- North East Metro Health Service Partnership C+P program (covers smaller sections of the north and central parts of the NWMPHN region)
More information on these localised C+P programs is available below.
West Metro Health Service Partnership C+P program
A care pathway for patients who are COVID-19 positive is active in the western metropolitan region of Melbourne. This pathway began in a pilot phase from 3 August 2020. This pilot informed the statewide guidelines for management of COVID-19 and supports continuity of care with patients’ usual general practice. Clinical and referral information is available on HealthPathways Melbourne.
The pathway was co-designed by the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), cohealth, NWMPHN and the Victorian Department of Health, supported by PwC. Western Health, Djerriwarrh Health Services, Mercy Health, the Royal Children’s Hospital and Monash Health have also joined this pathway.
The pathway is designed to provide safe, high quality care, including community-based care for low risk COVID-19 positive patients, with escalation mechanisms to higher levels of care if required.
- Patients who are well or mildly unwell are allocated to the self-care pathway.
- Low-risk patients remain at home and are predominantly managed by GPs.
- Medium-risk patients remain at home and receive frequent monitoring by the local health unit and/or local Hospital in the Home service.
- High-risk patients are admitted to hospital.
Visit HealthPathways Melbourne for more information on risk stratification.
Watch the video with our GP Advisor Dr Jeannie Knapp for a summary of the most important information about this pathway. More information for GPs and care providers is available in the documents below the video.
Resources for the West Metro COVID Positive Pathway
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COVID Monitor
What is COVID Monitor?
COVID Monitor has now replaced the REDCap system for patient monitoring.
COVID Monitor is a secure, online portal that allows you to view all of the patients enrolled in the model from your practice in one, clear dashboard. It has self-reported symptom monitoring for patients that will reduce the burden on GPs needing to call patients every 2 days.
COVID Monitor allows practices to:
- view a list of COVID-19 positive patients associated with your practice – those in low-risk GP care but also visibility of those in the medium and high risk categories
- see individual patient details including timelines (such as swab date) and symptom history
- set up scheduled follow up if required
- request discharge from program
- enter symptoms on the patient record as part of your consultation (a PDF is available for upload into your clinical documentation system or you can cut and paste directly into clinical notes)
- view patient reported symptoms (if a patient chooses to enter them – they are sent a daily reminder) .
Access to the system
Access to the system is by 2-factor authentication (an email and password then a secure pin). To ensure that all practices are able to access the system we are setting practices up with a generic log in, using a practice email that can be used from go live.
It is strongly encouraged that each user at the practice (GPs, nurses, practice managers) who is involved in managing and coordinating care for COVID-19 patients registers with a unique log in. This will allow the secure PIN to be sent to individual emails, and allows for any notifications about patients to be sent by SMS.
Training and support
General Practice User Guide (.pdf)
Instructional videos
- COVID Monitor Walkthrough
- Introduction for COVID Monitor for Practice Managers (overview and walkthrough)
Helpdesk
For technical issues, problems logging in, to add new users or for any other queries please contact our COVID Monitor Helpdesk on (03) 9347 1188 or email primarycare@nwmphn.org.au
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Local Public Health Unit Map
The Local Public Health Units (LPHUs) provide a new statewide system of public health delivery and oversight. They include key health service organisations working together to achieve a strategic and supportive approach to COVID-19 contact tracing, care pathways and vaccination.
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Role of the GP
GPs are asked to perform telehealth check-ins with their low risk COVID-19 positive patients. All telehealth consultations will be bulk billed and funded through MBS, as per the MBS guidelines.
The monitoring period for COVID-19 positive patients is 14 days. More details regarding call frequency is available in the model overview (.pdf).
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Resources
Documents
Webinars
- An in-depth look at the COVID-19 positive care pathway pilot (11 August 2020)
- Managing COVID-19 positive patients within primary care (25 August 2020)
- Managing COVID-19 positive patients within primary care (7 September 2020)
- Managing COVID-19 positive patients in the community: What’s different about Delta? (8 September 2021)
Changes to the pathway
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HealthPathways Melbourne
A specific pathway in HealthPathways Melbourne is available for this model. This is part of the COVID-19 suite of pathways, which contains more information for managing patients who are not included in the model.
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Feedback and questions
We are keen to hear from practices who have feedback, concerns or queries about how the model is working for you and your patients. Please email us: primarycare@nwmphn.org.au
North East Metro Health Service Partnership C+P program
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About this program
The North East Metro Health Service Partnership C+P program is overseen by the North East Health Services Partnership and cover the catchments of Austin Health, Northern Health, Eastern Health and St Vincent’s Health.
View these catchments on our LPHU map.
Visit HealthPathways Melbourne and the Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network website for more information on this program.
