Under the Australian Government Living with COVID Primary Care package, personal protective equipment (PPE) bundles and pulse oximeters are being made available to eligible general practitioners (GPs), Aboriginal and Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs), GP-led Respiratory Clinics (GPRCs) and immunising pharmacists supporting care for COVID-19 and respiratory patients as restrictions ease and Australia opens up.  

To support this increased provision of PPE in primary care, and in response to your feedback, a more streamlined approach to PPE ordering, distribution and delivery commenced on 15 February. After a transitional period in which PHNs will run down the inventories, PPE will be dispatched directly to GPs and other eligible groups, removing the requirement for PHNs to be an intermediatory distributor. 

The local PHN will remain the contact point for GPs, GPRCs, ACCHS and community pharmacies to access PPE from the NMS. An improved ordering system, with a tracking number so that individual practices are able to track their orders, will be part of the streamlined approach.  

The following guides outline the new arrangements for ordering PPE through PHNs: 

• Coronavirus (COVID-19) - Completing new PPE and pulse oximeter order form – GP, ACCHS and GPRCs; and 
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Completing new PPE order form – Pharmacy. 

Guidance around the new process is on the Department’s website and PHNs will be communicating locally with GPs, ACCHSs, GPRCs and pharmacies in their respective regions.