GPs in a Pod

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Arianne Valerio, a neurologist with Metro South Health, and Michelle Stafford, formerly with Parkinson's Queensland.

More than 44,000 Queenslanders are living with Parkinson's disease - a number that continues to rise as our population ages.

They discuss diagnosis and motor symptoms, red flags, demographics and trends, referrals, management, and more.

Resources

⁠Parkinson's Queensland: Education & Training for Health Professionals⁠

⁠Parkinson's Queensland: Referral Form

In this episode, Dr Tanusha and Dr Jo speak with Amara Brennan and Dr Nishanth Jayarajan from the West Moreton Health Eating Disorder Speciality Service. The service provides assessment, treatment, education, and secondary consultation for patients affected by eating disorders.

Resources

⁠West Moreton HealthPathways: Eating Disorder Referrals

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Robert Heffernan.

Dr Heffernan is a GP and practice owner in Toowoomba, GP Career Guide, and the Clinical Lead for Griffith’s LongLook Program, which sees fourth year medical students undergo placements in rural placements across the Darling Downs.

They discuss medical education and placements, student-patient relationships, and the benefits and challenges of medical student mentorship.

Resources

⁠General Practice Supervision Australia⁠

⁠Griffith University: Rural Clinical School⁠

⁠University of Queensland: Rural Clinical School

To end our Refugee Week series, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Rachel Claydon. Clinically, Dr Claydon practices as a GP at the Mater’s Asylum Seeker GP Clinic working with people seeking asylum who have lodged an application for protection visa, but don’t yet have Medicare.

Non-clinically, Dr Claydon is a GP SMO and Chair of the Queensland Clinical Advisory Group with the Refugee Health Network of Queensland, a statewide network that supports the provision of quality care to those with a refugee background.

Dr Tanusha and Dr Claydon discuss the various Mater Refugee and Multicultural Health Service clinics, the nuances of treating patients with a refugee background, trauma recovery, catch-up immunisation, and more.

Resources

⁠Mater: Refugee and Multicultural Health⁠

⁠Refugee Health Network Queensland⁠

⁠Mater: Multicultural Health Coordination Program⁠

⁠Refugee Health Network Queensland: Clinical Guidelines⁠

⁠Refugee Health Network Queensland: Resources for Clinicians⁠

⁠Australian Government – Department of Home Affairs: How to make a FOI request

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Elizabeth Laverty, who is a Refugee Health Officer with Multicultural Australia, the leading humanitarian settlement provider in Queensland.

Based in Toowoomba and Springfield, Multicultural Australia provides new arrivals with settlement services, such as housing, and access to education programs, training and employment assistance in the regions.

Toowoomba is home to the largest community of Yazidi refugees outside of Europe, with over 6,000.

Resources

⁠Multicultural Australia – Services⁠

⁠Queensland Program of Assistance to Survivors of Torture and Trauma

To kick off Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, Dr Tanusha was joined by Sophia Parker, who is a Health Promotion Officer for the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program with West Moreton Health.

Sophia discusses the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, the free home test kits, the lowered eligible age for bowel screening, and more.

Resources

The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program is free for people aged 45-74 years, who hold a current Medicare or DVA card. It is best suited to people who do not have any signs, symptoms, or a family history of bowel cancer. The program aims to reduce deaths from bowel cancer by detecting early signs of the disease using a faecal occult blood test (or iFOBT).

Home Test Demo kits are available, for free, from the National Bowel for GPs to show patients the contents of the kit.

In a recent study, published in the Lancet, March, 2025, the Faecal Immunochemical test-based screening program was found to be non-inferior to a colonoscopy-based program for colorectal cancer-related mortality.

Healthcare providers can now bulk order and issue bowel screening kits directly to their eligible patients through the alternative access to kits model. This is in addition to the existing mail out model.

Either the patient, or their GP on their behalf can ‘Request a free bowel test kit’ to be sent to their Medicare registered home address by completing the online form.

• Video: How to do the free test
• Flowchart: Bowel cancer screening for your patient

Key contacts

West Moreton Health and Darling Downs Health are offering lunchtime education sessions to GP practices in the region.

This includes information about the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program and a step-by-step guide on how to implement the Alternative Access to kits model to enable GPs to issue Home Test Kits directly to their patients.

Certificate of attendance will be provided if GPs want to use this to self -report CPD hours for the session.

West Moreton: WMCancerScreeningHPO@health.qld.gov.au

Darling Downs: Claire.condon@health.qld.gov.au

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Claire Fotheringham, who is a Senior Medical Officer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology with Queensland Health.

QVEMToPS is a statewide virtual service delivered by the Queensland Virtual Hospital. It provides eligible women and pregnant people across Queensland with access to an early medical termination of pregnancy up to 9 weeks (63 days) gestation.

Visit the ⁠QVEMToPS site⁠ to refer a patient or to check eligibility.

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Candice Holland and Paula Hale, who are members of Metro North Health's Sexual Health team.

They discuss the services of the first Nurse Navigator for Sexual Health, based within the Queensland Syphilis Surveillance Service (QSSS).

Located at the Metro North Public Health Unit, but responsible for southern Queensland, the QSSS enables accurate monitoring of syphilis infections and contributes to the clinical management of people infected with syphilis by providing support for the clinicians who treat them.

Resources

⁠Queensland Clinical Guidelines - Syphilis and pregnancy⁠

⁠Queensland Syphilis Action Plan 2023 – 2028 Overview⁠

For further information or to seek support, advice, or referrals to the Nurse Navigator, primary care professionals are encouraged to contact the QSSS on ⁠1800 032 238 ⁠or email ⁠QLD-Syphilis-Surveillance-Service@health.qld.gov.au⁠.

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Danielle Pentony, who is the Chief Information Security Officer at the Australian Digital Health Agency.

They discuss cyber security and what it means in the context of primary care, and why its essential for protecting patient data and ensuring the resilience of healthcare services.

Resources

For everyone:

• ⁠Cyber security for digital health privacy⁠

For practices:

• ⁠Small business | Cyber.gov.au⁠

• ⁠Cyber security for healthcare providers⁠
• ⁠Cyber security training and support⁠
• ⁠Cyber security fundamentals⁠
• ⁠Cyber security awareness⁠

Cyber Outreach Program

• Uplifting hygiene of small and medium businesses through their Cyber Champions Network - which is a community of healthcare professionals who choose to come together to foster a security conscious healthcare ecosystem. Launched in mid-August 2024, the ⁠Cyber Champions Network⁠ is a program aimed at enhancing cyber capability within Australia’s healthcare system, including fostering an informed and resilient healthcare workforce.
• The Agency is also working towards strengthening current information sharing practices for sharing of cyber threat information with the healthcare community. This will support an uplift in cyber knowledge and awareness in the healthcare community by enabling knowledge sharing with trusted peak bodies and health organisations. The Agency actively monitors potential cyber security risks through their dedicated Cyber Security Team and sends out alerts and advice regarding relevant threats to the health sector: ⁠Digital Health Cyber Security Alerts⁠.
• Basic Cyber Security Training to help practices understand the concepts of cyber security and the fundamentals for better cyber hygiene: ⁠DHSA2023 | DigitalHealth

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Director and Occupational and Environmental Physician at ⁠Phoenix Occupational Medicine⁠, Dr Sid O'Toole.

As a Medical Specialist, Dr O'Toole is an industry leader, always seeking opportunities to make improvements in the occupational health and safety space.

Dr Tanusha and Dr O'Toole discuss the relationship between GPs and Occupational and Environmental Physicians in supporting patients to return to work, and preventing work-related injuries and illnesses.

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Ben Brimblecombe, who is a Public Health Registrar at the Darling Downs Public Health Unit, about an increased incidence of JE across the region, and the importance of mosquito prevention.

Resources

Eligibility: ⁠Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) vaccination centres | Queensland Health⁠

Prevention: ⁠Japanese encephalitis | Health and wellbeing | Queensland Government

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Catherine Quagliotto, Public Health Physician at the West Moreton Public Health Unit, about what GPs need to look out for in the recovery phase of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

Dr Tanusha also provides an update on key services, and how the PHN is here to support practices in the recovery phase.

Resources

• ⁠Queensland Government: Flood health and safety⁠
• ⁠Subscribe to our alerts⁠
• ⁠SMS Emergency Alerts⁠
• ⁠Is your practice disaster ready?⁠
• ⁠Find your local disaster information⁠

Remember the PHN is here to support. If you have any queries, please contact ⁠practicesupport@ddwmphn.com.au⁠.

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Fran Avon, who is the CEO of Rural Doctors Foundation.

⁠Rural Doctors Foundation⁠ is a national rural health charity and exists to give those in rural and remote regions better access to lifesaving healthcare.

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Angela Wilkinson, who is West Moreton Health's Assistant Director of Nursing - SOPD Optimisation, about their referral process.

Resources

• ⁠Refer your patient | West Moreton Health⁠

• ⁠Important numbers for GPs in the West Moreton region⁠

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Theresa Johnson, who is the Deputy Director of Medical Services at Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service.

In this episode, Dr Jo speaks with Karen MacKellar, who is the Clinical Nurse Consultant for the Voluntary Assisted Dying service at Darling Downs Health.

Referral to VAD

Phone number: ⁠Phone 07 4616 6000⁠ or email ⁠ddhs-vad@health.qld.gov.au⁠ with patient name, date of birth and their contact details or go through Medical Objects or HealthPathways

Legislation

Voluntary assisted dying information for health professionals:

⁠https://www.health.qld.gov.au/clinical-practice/guidelines-procedures/voluntary-assisted-dying⁠

Darling Downs HealthPathways:

Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD): ⁠https://darlingdowns.communityhealthpathways.org/613209.htm⁠

Voluntary Assisted Dying Referral: ⁠https://darlingdowns.communityhealthpathways.org/1086558.htm⁠

End of Life: ⁠https://darlingdowns.communityhealthpathways.org/152004.htm⁠

Last Days of Life: ⁠https://darlingdowns.communityhealthpathways.org/24336.htm⁠

West Moreton HealthPathways:

Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD): ⁠https://westmoreton.communityhealthpathways.org/613209.htm⁠

Voluntary Assisted Dying Referral: ⁠https://westmoreton.communityhealthpathways.org/1086558.htm⁠

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Brynn Wainstein and Dr Mahila Namasivayam, who are paediatric allergists and immunologists at the Sydney Children’s Hospital, and board members of Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia.

Resources

⁠ASCIA⁠ - patient and clinician focussed information and guidelines on a range of allergic and immunological disorders.

⁠Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia⁠ - helpful resource for GPs to help support patients and families living with allergy including with navigating eating out, childcare, school, travel, part time work in fast food restaurants etc.

⁠Nip allergies in the bub⁠ - particularly useful for food allergy prevention and eczema.

⁠250K⁠ - teenage and young adult focussed advice.

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Peta Gimpel about changes to the Immunisation Schedule, and her role as a Nurse Practitioner at the Queensland Specialist Immunisation Service at Children's Health Queensland.

The Queensland Paediatric Respiratory Syncytial Virus Prevention Program has expanded from 1 December 2024. This expanded program provides free Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) immunisation to eligible Queensland infants, young children and pregnant women.

Resources

• ⁠Sharing Knowledge About Immunisation⁠

• ⁠Empowering Immunisation Conversations⁠

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with West Moreton Health representatives who can share their perspectives about GP workforce opportunities in the West Moreton region outside of traditional practice.

• Dr "Meech" Freeman - Clinical Director Prevention and Minor Injuries
• Dr John Ridler - Acting Clinical Director Rural Hospitals
• Dr Nadeem Siddiqui - Clinical Director at West Moreton Health

Warning: This podcast contains themes of domestic and family violence which may be triggering for survivors or sensitive listeners.

Ahead of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Dr Tanusha speaks with Deearne Troy, who is a domestic and family violence trainer at West Moreton Health.

In this episode, Dr Tanusha and Deearne discuss non-fatal strangulation, consenting sexual choking among young people, coercive control, building trust with victim survivors, and services for patient support.

Resources

After hours, please phone the Child Safety After Hours Service:

• 1800-175-135
• (07) 3235-9999

Complete an ⁠online form⁠ on the Child Safety website. For more information, see Queensland Department of Child Safety.

Mission Australia – Intensive Family Support (IFS)

If confident that IFS will be needed, this service may be requested directly instead of through FaCC. Inform the patient of service location – Level 1/225 Brisbane Street, Ipswich, QLD 4305. Contact the service:

• Phone (07) 3437 0900
• Email ⁠ifsipswich@missionaustralia.com.au⁠

For more information, see the ⁠website⁠.

onePlace Community Services Directory

Online ⁠community service directory⁠ for Queensland parents, families, and professionals looking to find support.

Reporting child abuse in other states

If reasonable suspicion that a child outside Queensland is experiencing harm, or is at risk of experiencing harm, contact the ⁠relevant state service⁠.

HealthPathways

⁠Child Abuse and Neglect Intervention Services⁠

⁠Strangulation⁠

In this episode, Dr Tanusha and Dr Jo speak with Dr Ben Auld, who is one of 11 Paediatric Cardiologists at Queensland Children's Hospital who work to improve the heart health of children while providing quality and compassionate care.

Dr Auld outlines common paediatric cardiology conditions GPs need be across to screen for in the neonatal period and early childhood, and how GPs can support their paediatric patients and families when a cardiac condition has been diagnosed.

If you would like to participate in a short interview to talk about your experience with primary care delivery to Queensland children with heart disease, contact ⁠ben.auld@health.qld.gov.au⁠.

Resources

⁠Birth Prevalence of Congenital Heart Disease Worldwide: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis⁠

⁠Improving primary care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with rheumatic heart disease: What can I do?

October is ⁠Queensland Seniors Month⁠, so in this episode Dr Jo speaks with Dr Anna Taylor from ⁠Infinity Specialists⁠.

Dr Taylor is a Geriatrician who specialises in a diverse range of geriatric syndromes.

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Ka-Kiu Cheung about maternity care and screening guidelines during pregnancy. Dr Ka-Kiu Cheung is family GP at the Gold Coast, the GP with special interest in Antenatal at Gold Coast University Hospital, and is the Chair of the Special Interest Group for Antenatal. She is also the Deputy Chair on the Board for Gold Coast PHN.

Resources:

1. Preeclampsia screening:

• Early pregnancy screening and prevention of preterm preeclampsia and related complications (RANZCOG)

• Clinical Guidelines (Australia Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance)

• Australian STI Management Guidelines for pregnant people (ASRHA/ASHM)
• Syphilis Outbreak Training (ASHM)

• Reproductive Carrier Screening (RACNZCOG)

• Information about respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) (Australian Immunisation Handbook)

Guidelines:
Obstetrics statements and guidelines directory (RACGP)

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so in this episode, Dr Tanusha talks to Dr Susan Bell, General Breast and Endocrine Surgeon at West Moreton Health. Dr Bell discusses breast screening and a new breast cancer risk factor assessment tool called iprevent that can be used by clinicians and patients.

Resources for Clinical Support

• Breast cancer risk factor assessment tool called iprevent
• Guidelines for vaginal dryness

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dene Creegan, who is Practice Manager at 7 Springs Medical Practice in Toowoomba, about digital health tools in general practice.

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Carmen Nayer, who is an Addiction Psychiatrist at West Moreton's AODS (Alcohol and Other Drugs Service).

Information and resources for health professionals discussed during the podcast can be found at ⁠www.ddwmphn.com.au⁠.

In this episode, Dr Tanusha Ramaloo speaks with Dr Wendy Burton, a GP from Brisbane with a special interest in maternity and health equity, who in addition to her city practice is now providing medical services to the Goondiwindi community and encouraging other GPs to consider offering rural and remote care as well.

Dr Burton has also produced the website maternity-matters.com.au within information and resources for patients and GPs.

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Anja Nikolic, who is the CEO of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health (AIDH).

Learn more about the ⁠Australasian Institute of Digital Health⁠ and how digital health can benefit GPs and their patients.

In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Kim Nolan, who is a leading GP in the region and Maternity GPLO at Metro South Health.

Learn more about the ⁠Preconception and prenatal genetic screening guideline⁠, and how to keep up with clinical updates in obstetrics as busy GPs.

In this episode, Tanusha speaks with leading West Moreton Paediatrician Dr Ian Shellshear. Dr Shellshear has over 40 years of experience in paediatrics and is passionate about behaviour management for children and young people.

In 2021, the PHN hosted a five-part webinar series with Dr Shellshear. Watch here: ⁠Lunch with Dr Ian Shellshear Education Series⁠.

In this episode, Tanusha speaks with Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia CEO Maria Said AM about food allergy and supporting food allergy prevention.

Nip Allergies in the Bub aims to provide parents and health professionals with information about how to feed babies the common allergy causing foods and how to manage eczema, based on current evidence, to support food allergy prevention.

Warning: This podcast contains themes of domestic and family violence which may be triggering for survivors or sensitive listeners.

In this episode, Tanusha speaks with Hannah from the Centre for Women & Co about the role of GPs in supporting domestic violence survivors and identifying referral pathways.

The Domestic Violence Action Centre (DVAC) provides service supports listed on the DVAC Services Page in the Darling Downs and West Moreton regions.

In this episode, Tanusha is joined by Jo and Jake to talk all things My Health Record.

My Health Record is a secure online summary of key patient health information. Healthcare providers can access the system to view and add information.

In this episode, Dr Caroline Harvey returns to talk to Tanusha about self-collection cervical screening and HPV, with an in-depth discussion on the management algorithm.

IRIS Education provides a broad range of professional development: courses and workshops, clinical skill review, small group learning and education and program development consultancy.

In this episode, Tanusha speaks with self-described "cervical screening tragic" Dr Caroline Harvey about women's health, HPV, and self-collection cervical screening.

In this episode, Tanusha speaks with Julie from Neami National, who work with the PHN to implement Head to Health in the Darling Downs and West Moreton regions.

Learn more about the ⁠Head to Health Phone Service⁠, which offers a free, confidential, and friendly referral phone service for people seeking support for their mental and emotional wellbeing.

Note: Head to Health Centres were renamed Medicare Mental Health Centres in February 2025.

In our second episode, Dr Tanusha Ramaloo speaks with the PHN's Darling Downs based General Practice Liaison Officer, Dr Jo Pappas.

Welcome to GPs in a Pod. In our first episode, Dr Tanusha Ramaloo speaks with Louise Litchfield, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Communications at the PHN, about what GPs can expect from this podcast.