Situation report: Australian general practitioners in disaster health management

Abstract

Background: After decades of debate, Australian general practitioners (GPs) are being integrated into disaster health management (DHM) systems. Objective: This article outlines the evolving integration of GPs into DHM in Australia and discusses key DHM concepts and systems GPs need to know. Discussion: The aim of disaster response is a unified efficient whole-of-health response based on a multidisciplinary pre-planned, pre‑exercised system. Each discipline must have a clear understanding of how the system works and where they fit within the response. GPs’ link to the DHM system is through the local Primary Health Network that links to the broader disaster health response through the local health service areas. This article outlines the evolving integration of GPs into DHM in Australia. Although there is a long way to go before there is full integration of GPs consistently across all local health service areas, without linkage to the broader disaster response, GPs risk being unsupported, isolated and less effective in their response.