Join the CESPHN Primary Care Emergency Response Team (PCERT)
Can you help in a disaster?
CESPHN is committed to better preparing our region to respond to disasters or critical incidents that impact health and wellbeing in our community. We recognise our communities’ increasing vulnerability to climate change and other disasters, and learning from recent events we know that preparation is key. We also know primary care providers can play a crucial role in supporting the emergency response in a disaster situation or a critical incident.
To enhance our region’s preparedness and capacity to respond to disasters, CESPHN is establishing a volunteer register for a Primary Care Emergency Response Team (PCERT).
This team has two key objectives:
Ensure continuity of access to primary care when there is a disaster or critical incident
Support the emergency response by addressing immediate health needs in a disaster situation.
In the event of a disaster or critical incident that may impact the health and wellbeing of our community PCERT volunteers may be contacted for assistance.
The types of events that may require an emergency response could include:
Natural – bushfires, heatwaves, severe storms, flooding, earthquake
Public safety threats and major transport accidents
Hazardous materials accidents
Major public health threats
Join the Primary Care Emergency Response Team
GPs, practice nurses, mental health care providers and pharmacists are encouraged to register. The PCERT will be flexible and responsive, allowing primary care providers to contribute according to their availability, skills, and the specific demands of each disaster situation.
Types of responses include:
In-Practice Support: Provide care at your own practice to affected individuals, manage minor injuries, and offer ongoing care for chronic conditions.
Telehealth Services: Deliver remote consultations to patients who cannot access in-person care due to disaster-related disruptions.
Urgent Care Clinics: Attend one of the designated urgent care clinics in the CESPHN region to assist with managing a potential influx of patients during a disaster.
Evacuation Centres: Provide care at an evacuation centre that may be established to support people impacted by a disaster.
Involvement in the Primary Care Emergency Response
Team may include providing:
Basic first aid and acute healthcare activities
Psychological first aid
Management of chronic conditions
Prescriptions for medications
Referrals to a GP practice or nearest hospital emergency department
Care via telehealth
Care at Residential Aged Care Homes or Disability Group Homes
Remuneration
Remuneration for primary care providers responding to a disaster or critical incident will be confirmed prior to participating. In some instances, remuneration will be through standard Medicare billing, however there will be mechanisms for CESPHN to provide payments when this is not available. Funding will be made available to support primary care providers to participate in relevant training.
Next Steps
If you would like to register your interest to help in a disaster:
In the event of a disaster or critical incident, PCERT volunteers may be contacted via SMS on the mobile number provided in the registration form. A generic message will be sent with a request for assistance and you will be asked to respond “Yes” or “No”. Anyone replying “Yes” will receive a follow up call to discuss details of the disaster and confirm your availability to help.
Anyone replying “No” will not receive a follow up call.
Depending on the disaster event, a second SMS may be sent if we do not receive a response.
Depending on the scale of a disaster, CESPHN’s role in an emergency response will be activated by the Local Health District or the State Health Emergency Operations Centre. CESPHN’s role will depend on each disaster event and the required resources.
Dr Brendan Goodger, General Manager Primary Care Improvement is overseeing CESPHN’s PCERT. You may receive a call from Brendan, or depending on the nature of the disaster, it may be another member of the Primary Care Improvement Team.
In all disaster situations it is acknowledged that primary care providers are often members of the same community and can therefore be impacted at a personal level by the disaster. Participation is therefore voluntary and continually assessed throughout the disaster/emergency response.
Yes, participation in the PCERT is entirely voluntary. Expressed interest in registering to help in a disaster situation will be checked with each incident and throughout the emergency response.
All primary care providers volunteering for the PCERT will be remunerated for their time involved in an emergency response. In some instances, this will be through standard Medicare billing, however there will be mechanisms for CESPHN to provide payments when this is not available. Standard rates for clinical services will apply. PCERT members will be required to invoice CESPHN for their hours of approved service.
We have chosen to take a multi-disciplinary approach to our emergency response and our PCERT comprises GPs, Practice Nurses, Mental Health Workers and Pharmacists. This will ensure we are able to meet the priority needs of people impacted by disasters.
We will be developing local resources and procedures to be inclusive of our multi-disciplinary team. We welcome your feedback on how we can ensure our PCERT acknowledges and includes all members.
Primary care providers have differing skills and experience; PCERT members should only provide care that fits within their usual scope of practice. Services that could be provided in a disaster situation include:
Acute healthcare services – triage, acute injuries/infections, surveillance and management of infectious or communicable disease
Mental health first aid
Management of chronic conditions/wound/pain
Prescribing and dispensing of prescription medication
Referral to other services
Post disaster/recovery phase mental health services
In most cases the support model activated by the Local Health District will be the in-practice model. This could involve primary care providers delivering services from their own practice/pharmacy, via telehealth, from another practice or from one of the local Urgent Care Centres.
The in-practice model of support is designed to provide short-term surge capacity for low acuity patients referred from an evacuation centre or overcrowded emergency department. Pharmacists working from their own or another local pharmacy will ensure access to prescription medications. The benefit of this model is the provider’s access to all the usual infrastructure.
Our first call out for PCERT volunteers has been for individuals; our next step is to identify practices and pharmacies that would like to register to provide support. Please consider having this conversation with your practice/pharmacy principal and colleagues to register as a practice/pharmacy.
An expression of interest by a practice/pharmacy to join the Primary Care Emergency Response Team register would operate the same as individuals – registration is voluntary and the practice/pharmacy would be contacted to confirm availability to participate at each disaster/critical incident event.
Practices would support the emergency response by opening, possibly for extended hours and accepting triaged patients from emergency centres or overflowing emergency departments. Pharmacies would similarly support the emergency response by ensuring access to essential medications. It would be CESPHN’s role to coordinate the required support between the Local Health District and practices/pharmacies.
Individual PCERT members will be rostered to provide in-practice support from registered practices/pharmacies, an Urgent Care Centre, or elsewhere depending on the disaster/critical incident event. A recent example of primary care providers supporting a critical incident event include GPs attending Sydney International Airport as evacuees from Gaza arrived.
The in-practice support model is the more likely model primary care providers will be involved with in the event of a disaster/critical incident. However, CESPHN is working on the process for evacuation centre support with our local disaster agencies. We will continue updating procedures and communicating with our PCERT members as they are developed. In the meantime, please refer to the RACGP resource for an overview of the role of general practitioners working in evacuation centres.
While training is not a requirement for PCERT members, it is encouraged that you complete the Major Incident Medical Management and Support (MIMMS) training. MIMMS training develops the practical skills health professionals can use in management of health and casualties in a disaster or major incident.
CESPHN will liaise with our Local Health Districts who deliver the training and advise when opportunities are available. Benefits include:
You will be better prepared to respond in a disaster situation
The training will be provided at no cost to PCERT volunteers
PCERT members will be able to invoice for the cost to register for disaster management related training, such as first aid and CPR, wound management and psychological first aid. Training activities must be approved by CESPHN and will be promoted to the PCERT directly. This is in recognition of your role as a PCERT volunteer.
Additionally, PCERT members will be sent notices to advise of Major Incident Medical Management and Support (MIMMS) training offered by the Local Health Districts.
All primary care providers should have individual professional and indemnity insurances or be covered by their employer’s insurance to operate within their usual scope of practice. You will need to check your insurance policy for any special terms, conditions or exclusions to provide services in an emergency situation.
Other Primary Health Networks with an established PCERT have set up a WhatsApp group so volunteers can communicate between each other. CESPHN could organise a WhatsApp group for its PCERT members if this is of interest to members.
All personal details will be securely stored in CESPHN’s customer relationship management (CRM) system that manages all our region’s data. Our CRM is only accessed by CESPHN staff and is compliant with stringent governance standards to ensure data security.
Participation in CESPHN’s PCERT is entirely voluntary, so if you are moving or would like to remove your details from the register you can do this at any time by calling CESPHN or emailing disastermanagement@cesphn.com.au
Alternatively, CESPHN will check with PCERT volunteers annually for confirmation to stay on the register, so people can choose at this time to remain in or leave the group.
