- Our region
- Your support teams
- HealthPathways
- Health literacy
- Multicultural services
- Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Billing
- CPD program
- Referral forms and other resources
- Mental health support services
- Alcohol and Other Drugs support services
- Urgent Care
- After-hours health services
- Get involved in our programs
- Stay in touch
- Health and wellbeing support for GPs
- Introduce a Registrar form
Here is an introduction to the support South Western Sydney PHN provides to registrars and GPs. Our hope is for you to see the many benefits of practising in our diverse region and continue to work in South Western Sydney.
Whether this is your first term as a registrar or you have gained months of experience, South Western Sydney PHN is supporting you in your primary healthcare secondment. We invite you to discover the unique rewards of practicing in our richly diverse region – where every day offers meaningful impact, professional growth, and a strong sense of community. We hope this experience inspires you to build a lasting and fulfilling career with us in South Western Sydney.
Firstly, a quick introduction: South Western Sydney Primary Health Network (SWSPHN) is an Australian Government Initiative. We are a not-for-profit health organisation dedicated to supporting general practitioners, practice nurses and other primary health providers. We play a key role in linking GPs, practice nurses, other primary health providers, hospitals and aged care, ensuring care is integrated and shaped around the needs of the person receiving the care. PHNs are also responsible for commissioning services to fill health gaps in the region, for example mental health services.
SWSPHN covers the local government areas of Bankstown, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Liverpool, Wingecarribee and Wollondilly. We are one of 31 PHNs Australia-wide.
Our region
South Western Sydney is one of the most culturally diverse regions in Australia, with unique health and social needs. Understanding this diversity is key to providing holistic patient-centred care. SWSPHN’s 2025-2028 needs assessment provides an overview of the current health landscape of our region.
Visit our Health of our region page for more information
Your support teams at SWSPHN
Support and training are tailored to meet the specific needs of each practice. Our Practice Support team can introduce you to tools used throughout South Western Sydney, including digital health systems, referral pathways and commissioned services for your patients and answer any questions related to general practice. Support is provided through practice visits, phone, email and remote desktop assistance.
Here are ways SWSPHN’s support teams can assist your practice across a wide range of areas.
Practice Support team
MyMedicare
- provide information on the benefits including practice and patient eligibility
- assist practices with registration and how to register patients
- provide information and resources on incentives linked to MyMedicare ie. Chronic Conditions Management, General Practice in Aged Care Incentive, Bulk Billing Incentive
Other services
- support with HPOS/PRODA account registration
- access to HealthPathways and Health Resources Directory
- inform you of CPD opportunities
- assist with Antenatal Shared Care program registration
- provide referral forms, templates, primary care resources
SWSPHN’s Practice Support and Practice Advancement teams are here to help you. Don’t hesitate to contact us with any queries you may have.
Phone 4632 3000
Email enquiries@swsphn.com.au
Data and digital health support
SWSPHN’s Digital Health team is able to support you with the following areas of your clinical software:
My Health Record
My Health Record can support safer, more connected care by giving you access to key patient information across healthcare settings. South Western Sydney PHN supports GP registrars to use My Health Record confidently and effectively in general practice.
National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) installation/renewal
- uploading summaries to MHR
- accessing and navigating in a patient’s MHR
- saving an MHR report/document onto the patient’s record
Visit our NASH certificate page to learn more
SWSPHN’s Practice Support and Practice Advancement teams are here to help you. Don’t hesitate to contact us with any queries you may have.
Phone 4632 3000
Email enquiries@swsphn.com.au
Secure messaging
- sending/receiving documents
- address book maintenance
Templates
- creation and updates of existing templates
Outside of the clinical software, SWSPHN’s Digital Health team can also assist with your PRODA, Provider Connect Australia, and telehealth.
If you require digital health support, please contact us.
Phone 4632 3000
Email digitalhealth@swsphn.com.au
HealthPathways
HealthPathways is your go-to clinical guidance tool, offering local service information and referral options. It’s designed for quick, point-of-care use.
You can view an introductory video about HealthPathways here:
Read more about HealthPathways
Feel free to contact the HealthPathways coordinator to arrange a walk-through on 4632 3000 or healthpathways@swsphn.com.au
Register for HealthPathways
Health literacy
Health literacy can be defined as how people understand and use health information to access the services they need.
Health literacy is a major barrier to healthcare. Around 59% of Australians have low health literacy, with 75% of those born overseas.
Population groups of CALD background are less likely to understand issues related to their health or to access the health services they need.
There are many reasons for low health literacy in CALD populations, such as low English language proficiency, cultural differences, and a lack of familiarity with the Australian health system. Cultural beliefs and practices may have significant impacts on the physical and psychological wellbeing and their capacity to seek and access health information and services. Without adequate education or information on the health system it may be used inappropriately.
Health Resource Directory
In 2017 SWSPHN developed an online health literacy resource called Health Resource Directory (HRD), which provides factsheets on a range of health conditions and psychosocial presentations. The website and printable factsheets are available in English, Arabic, simplified Chinese, and Vietnamese. Audio versions, including in-language versions, are also available. HRD includes information on local services, distinguishing itself from national and state-based translated health literacy resources to assist residents in South Western Sydney who do not speak English to have the same access to content as English-speaking people.
Health Resource Directory complements HealthPathways by providing information for patients about their health. Factsheets have been reviewed and endorsed by local community members and GPs.
You may print factsheets for your patients directly from the ‘Patient Information’ section on HealthPathways pages during consultations.
Find patient resources, go to HealthResourceDirectory.org.au
Australian Government Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS)
TIS is a language service which provides free translation and interpretation for people with limited or no English proficiency.
Medical practitioners can use the Medical Practitioner Priority Line on 1300 131 450, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to access immediate phone interpreting for any Medicare eligible patient.
Statewide Health Literacy Hub
The NSW Government’s health literacy hub provides guidance on communicating with patients using clear written and verbal approaches, including how to explain risk effectively.
Health Literacy Handbook
A handbook for health professionals across Northern NSW developed in partnership between Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSW LHD) and North Coast Primary Health Network (NCPHN).
Teach-back
Teach-back provides useful resources and online modules around how people understand information, and tools which to assess a patient’s understanding of information. Developed in partnership with South Eastern Sydney Local Health District and Deakin University.
Multicultural services
South Western Sydney is home to many people born overseas, with 42.4% of residents born outside Australia. More than a third of NSW’s refugee intake also settles in the region.
Healthcare service navigation
Settlement Services International provides access for people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, refugees and those experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness across South Western Sydney to healthcare service navigation. GPs and GP registrars can make referrals for patients to access free language translation and transport services, connection to specialists and healthcare professionals, access to financial support to cover treatment gaps as well as support for other identified individual needs.
Visit the SSI website to find out how you can access services for your patients
Multicultural Health Communication Service
The NSW Government’s Multicultural Health Communication Service website provides advice around evidence-based communication strategies in order to effectively engage with multicultural communities.
You can browse health resources by topic or language using the link below.
Visit the Multicultural Health Communication Service website
Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Billing
GP registrars often have had limited exposure to the practical and administrative realities of MBS billing.
There are resources available to help upskill your understanding of billing requirements.
Medicare Benefits Scheme e-learning
Services Australia provide guidance around MBS billing through a variety of online modules:
Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) – eLearning
CPD program
Maintain, improve and broaden your knowledge, expertise and competence by participating in SWSPHN’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) offerings. Our CPD program facilitates educational opportunities through face-to-face sessions, webinars and hybrid formats on topics identified as priorities by SWSPHN in collaboration with local GPs. CPD hours are automatically added for accredited registrars who attend RACGP approved activities through us.
You will receive an email every Friday highlighting upcoming CPD events.
(If you don’t receive your weekly Friday CPD email please call the practice support team on 4632 3000 to ensure your details are correct.)
Visit the CPD Events page to see all upcoming events
What kinds of challenges, if any, have you encountered while providing care to your patients in South Western Sydney? Are there particular areas where you feel additional education from the SWSPHN CPD Team could be valuable?
Please email your suggestions to cpd@swsphn.com.au
Referral forms, templates and other primary care resources
The resource library on our website holds over 1,200 resources designed to support GPs in clinical practice. These include how-to guides, instructional videos and clinical and administrative templates.
Ask SWSPHN’s Practice Support team to demonstrate the library on our website.
Resource Library
Mental health support services
Refer patients experiencing barriers to accessing mental health services through Medicare (Better Access Initiative), to a range of local primary mental health and suicide prevention services, including a consultant psychiatry service. Services are delivered in line with a stepped care model which guides GPs to determine the best service to suit the individual’s needs.
Stepped Care for mental health
Stepped care is a model of evidence-based mental healthcare delivery where the service intensity is matched to individual need/severity of the mental illness, ensuring that the right service is delivered at the right place, at the right time. The ideal intervention is the least intensive and least intrusive. Importantly, the decision is driven by person-centred approach as opposed to one-size-fits-all. The continuum of care is self-correcting requiring monitoring of patient outcomes so that step-up or step-down may be implemented as appropriate.
SWSPHN Mental Health Central Intake
Call the SWSPHN Mental Health Central Intake line on 1800 797 746 for information and referral enquiries.
Referral instructions and templates
Alternatively, direct your patient to contact the Medicare Mental Health phone service for an initial assessment and referral options on 1800 595 212.
IAR Decision Support Tool for mental healthcare
The Initial Assessment and Referral (IAR) Decision Support Tool (DST) for mental healthcare, an initiative of the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing that provides primary healthcare with a nationally consistent, evidence-informed, objective approach to initial assessment and referral for individuals seeking mental health support. The IAR-DST brings together information from a variety of sources including Australian and international evidence and advice from a range of leading experts. It is a decision support tool to guide referral decisions, promote shared decision-making and consumer choice.
IAR-DST training is available as a single online two-hour session.
Find out more about IAR-DST and register for training at CESPHN
Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) support services
SWSPHN commissions services to work with clients, their families and GPs to provide withdrawal management, rehabilitation, after-care and psychosocial counselling for AOD concerns. Call the GP Drug and Alcohol Advice and Support Hotline on 0455 079 436.
Download the SWSPHN Funded Primary Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and Drug & Alcohol Services directory for commissioned services for each IAR level of care, including referral instructions.
Download
Urgent Care
Urgent Care is designed to complement general practice. Their role is to provide short-term, episodic care for acute, non-life-threatening conditions – such as minor fractures, lacerations, infections, or sudden illness – that require timely attention but do not need emergency department care.
Urgent Care does not provide ongoing or longitudinal care, and they actively encourage patients to return to their usual GP for continued care.
Where appropriate, visit summaries are shared to support continuity, ensuring the GP remains the central coordinator of the patient’s healthcare. In this way, Urgent Care functions much like hospitals – addressing immediate clinical needs while preserving and reinforcing the GP–patient relationship rather than replacing it.
Urgent Care is a bulk billed service, open seven days a week, including public holidays, from 8am until late. Patient walk-in and online appointments are available, or patients can call 1800 022 222.
Find out more about Urgent Care in South Western Sydney
Log into HealthPathways top access clinician-only phone numbers for each Urgent Care site in South Western Sydney.
Login to HealthPathways
After-hours health services
If you’re new to practicing in Wollondilly or Wingecarribee shires, it’s important to be aware of the local after-hours care landscape so you can confidently guide patients when your practice is closed.
There are currently no Urgent Care services located within Wollondilly or Wingecarribee shires, so patients may need to access services in neighbouring areas after-hours.
Visit our after-hours healthcare services page to find up-to-date information on available options across South Western Sydney, including where to direct patients for urgent care, emergency care, and advice outside normal practice hours.
After-hours healthcare – South Western Sydney | South Western Sydney PHN
Get involved in our programs
We provide support for general practice and continuously look for ways to improve access to primary care services for community through planning, consultation, commissioning and innovation.
Antenatal Shared Care program
The GP Antenatal Shared Care program (ANSC) provides uncomplicated or low risk patients with flexibility, choice and continuity of care with you, throughout their pregnancy and postpartum. The program gives GPs the opportunity to provide continuity of care throughout their patient’s pregnancy, and enhances their skills in caring for pregnant women, with the ongoing support of the program’s Clinical Midwife Consultant GP Liaison Officers of South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD).
To be eligible, GP Registrars are required to have a supervisor in South Western Sydney who is an ANSC provider. Additional eligibility requirements are located at the link below.
RsGP
Every year, South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD) runs multiple clinical re-design projects aimed at improving patient care and coordination. Unfortunately, GPs are woefully under-represented in these projects. Often this is due to a difficulty in finding interested GPs and the administrative barriers to reimbursing them for their time. rsGP aims to change this by recruiting a pool of GPs interested in participating in re-design projects and linking them in with SWSLHD projects as they come up. rsGP will also take care of all reimbursement of GP time ($150 per hour), which is expected to be only a few hours per month for each project participated in.
To be involved, register your interest and we will notify you of projects as they arise.
Type 2 diabetes programs
Type 2 diabetes case conferencing rapid clinic
SWSPHN and SWSLHD partner to deliver rapid access diabetes case conferencing clinics. These rapid 2.5 hour clinics allow you to upskill in complex diabetes management through the in-person attendance of an endocrinologist and diabetes educator to your practice to undertake three x 45 minute patient appointments.
Email swslhd-campbelltownidc@health.nsw.gov.au for more information.
Type 2 diabetes telehealth case conferencing
This rapid access pathway allows GPs to access advice from a specialist about a diabetes patient over the phone.
Type 2 Diabetes Telehealth Case Conferencing
Type 2 diabetes education sessions
Free diabetes education sessions are available for your patients. Sessions can be held at your practice or we can arrange for them to be held at a local community health centre. SWSPHN can also provide support to pull a list of T2DM patients at your practice.
Contact swslhd-campbelltownidc@health.nsw.gov.au for more information.
Type 2 diabetes exercise group sessions
Refer patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who have a chronic disease management plan for type 2 diabetes group exercise classes. Patients can attend eight one-hour group exercise classes. These are in addition to the five individual allied health visits available to eligible patients each calendar year. A list of exercise physiology practices offering these classes is located here:
Additionally, we have a wide range of other programs, see What we do overview page for a full list of the services we support to strengthen primary care.
Stay in touch
Practice Pulse e-newsletter
Read the latest relevant primary health news including government announcements, networking opportunities, SWSPHN activities and service updates. You will receive a newsletter every Wednesday. Past editions can be accessed from our website at:
(If you don’t receive your weekly Practice Pulse email call the practice support team on 4632 3000 to ensure your details are correct.)
Workforce engagement support
If you have any additional questions, or require any support please email primarycareworkforce@swsphn.com.au
Health and wellbeing support for GP registrars
The transition from hospital to general practice can be stressful. It may be the first time that you’ve had significant responsibility for patient care. There are stresses around clinical uncertainty, decision making and managing workloads, which can lead to burnout and isolation. Whilst this can be a stressful time, there are many services available to support you.
TELUS Health
SWSPHN funds TELUS Health to support the health and wellbeing of all general practice staff working in South Western Sydney and their families, at no cost. This program can include a series of sessions with a mental health professional.
Phone 1300 361 008
Drs for Drs
A tele counselling support service providing confidential, 24/7, free access to psychologists, and counsellors for doctors, medical students, and their families.
Phone 1300 374 377
RACGP Wellbeing Hub
The wellbeing hub provides support for your health and wellbeing, your career and your placement.
General Practice Registrars Australia
If you come across any issues, or need to make a complaint during your training or placement, you can reach out to General Practice Registrars Australia.
ACRRM Support
24/7 Wellbeing Support
Members experiencing workplace, training, exam, or other stresses or issues impacting your personal wellbeing can call ACRRM’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for free.
Call 1800 818 728 to receive immediate and confidential phone counselling support 24/7 in Australia and overseas.
If you seek non-urgent ACRRM coordinated wellbeing support please email wellbeing@acrrm.org.au
Doctors Health Advisory Services
Doctors Health Advisory Services has phone helplines in all states and territories which provide confidential advice to doctors and medical students facing difficulties.
Phone 9437 6552
