Your Care Plan Appointment
This article will explain what your care plan appointment will involve.
What is a care plan?
A care plan is a management plan of your chronic condition. To assist you manage your chronic condition the Next Practice doctors and nurses can set up a ‘care plan’ to help you achieve your health goals and targets. A collaborative discussion including the setting of health goals is the first step in the care plan creation. This is facilitated by the nurse.
The second component of a care plan is the integration of other healthcare providers such as dietitians, podiatrists and physios. With input from these allied health providers the idea is that over a 12 months period your wider healthcare team can further assist you to achieve optimal health.
During this period, you will receive 5 lower cost visits to allied health providers from January and December. If your care plan begins in June for example, you will receive 5 lower cost visits from June-December and another 5 visits from January the following year.
What to expect from your care plan appointment?
You will first meet with a Next Practice nurse for around 45 minutes. This is to set the foundation for your care plan. From here on the nurse plays a key part in your healthcare team.
As part of this consultation they will ask you questions in regards to your chronic conditions and assist in setting achievable health goals. Finally, they will assist you with forming the second component of the care plan, the integration of allied health providers. This is then documented thoroughly and turned into a printed formal plan.
The care plan is then shared with you, your doctor, allied health and relevant specialists.
You will finish with a brief consult with your GP who can clarify any questions you may have about the plan.
Your nurse team will follow up with you for 5 times during the 12 months period and normally a GP care plan review happens in 3-6 months after the initial one has been created.
What should I bring to my care plan consultation?
You do not need to bring anything to your appointment. However if you have any allied health providers (eg physiotherapist) which you would like to see as part of your care plan team please have their information ready.
What is the cost?
At Next Practice Prahran we recognise the importance of managing chronic conditions within the community. We therefore bulk-bill (Medicare card holders) Care Plans to assist our community in providing affordable care.
Please allow a minimum 1 hour if this is your first care plan.
