The emergency response planning tool (ERPT) equips general practices to respond to all types of emergencies, to remain operational, and help meet potential surge in demand for healthcare during and after an emergency.
The project was established with the aim of building emergency response capability and resilience.
Through this project, the department is providing Victorian general practices the opportunity to access the Emergency Response Planning Tool (ERPT) to develop a site-specific emergency response plan.
The department has worked closely with the Victorian Primary Health Networks (PHNs) and Healthpoint ANZ to promote the ERPT project to general practices across Victoria. All PHNs with the exception of South Eastern Melbourne PHN have participated in communicating with general practice about the project.
Theory of Change
Fund access to an emergency response planning tool for general practice
Increase the number of practices that have a completed emergency response plan
Increase staff capability and confidence
Increase ability for practice to recover and continue to operate
Increase number of practices able to operate and meet surge demand for health services
The Department of Health sent out a survey to all participating GP practices to get feedback on use and applicability.
Survey Results
| Primary Health Network | Total practices | No. using ERPT |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Melbourne PHN | 442 | 138 |
| North Western Melbourne PHN | 550 | 182 |
| South Eastern Melbourne PHN | 477 | 50 |
| Gippsland PHN | 96 | 43 |
| Murray PHN | 209 | 96 |
| Western Victoria PHN | 213 | 97 |
| Total | 1987 | 606 |
Table 1. Total general practices by PHN and number using ERPT through this project.
Approximately 54% (329) have successfully completed and published an emergency plan to date. This means that these practices have a robust emergency response plan in place that is accessible from anywhere. Practices only need to review the content and update their plan at regular intervals to ensure it remains up to date.
A further 36% (223 practices) have started to develop an emergency response plan but are yet to complete and publish their plan.
Participating practices are located:
| Metropolitan Melbourne | 54.2% |
| Regional city | 16.0% |
| Rural Victoria | 29.8% |
Factors that led practice to participate in ERPT:
| Accreditation | 90.1% |
| Fire | 21.4% |
| Flood | 7.6% |
| Pandemic | 43.5% |
| Cyber attack | 17.6% |
| Other | 12.2% |
Practices overwhelmingly found the tool useful.
| Extremely useful | 51 | 41.5% |
| Very useful | 57 | 46.3% |
They liked the comprehensive nature of the tool, the way it brings everything together in one place and that it is easy to use.
Practices felt more confident to handle/deal with emergencies.
To what extent has your confidence to respond to an emergency increased as a result of using the ERPT to prepare an emergency response plan?
| A great deal | 29.4% |
| Quite a lot | 42.9% |
Has your practice used the emergency plan in an emergency?
| Yes | 31% |
What type(s) of emergency event(s) were you responding to?
| Pandemic | 78.05% | 32 answered |
Would you/your practice like to continue to use the ERPT?
| Yes | 98% | 118 answered |