Communications

As part of your emergency response plan, you will have decided upon a strategy to maintain communication between your team and ensure everyone stays informed.

At a minimum, your practice team should be kept updated regarding:

• the status of the emergency or disaster,
• changes to their rosters or shifts, and
• changes to your practice’s mode of operation.

Remember that your team may be affected by the event in a variety of ways. Ensure communications remain calm, kind and encouraging.

Tips on effective communication with your team during an event

• Use clear and concise language. Keep messages brief, relevant and direct.
• Be honest and factual. Avoid ‘sugarcoating’ important information.
• Repeat messages where important or necessary.
• Ask that your team acknowledge that they have received communications. This can be done verbally if in person, or by responding/’reacting’ to messages.
• Maintain communication between your team before, during and after an event.
• Use words of encouragement and support to help uplift the team and manage anxiety levels.

Stay in communication with your PHN before, during and after the event at hand. They will want to know about your operational status, including updates regarding:

• your communications,
• practice opening hours,
• team member arrangements,
• changes in patient presentations,
• concerns or challenges you are facing, and
• any assistance you may need to be part of the coordinated health response.

Your PHN will feed this information into the District Emergency Operations Centre as activated by the Local Health Districts as part of the broader Disaster and Emergency Response. 

If an evacuation centre requires general practice support, the local PHN will coordinate this using their register of practitioners.  However, the priority in disasters and emergency events should be to maintain continuity of operation of your practice where safe to do so.

Keep in touch with the relevant emergency service(s) and key contacts, as needed. Regularly check your state or territory’s emergency alert apps and websites if possible, to seek the latest updates.

The RACGP website also hosts Information for GPs in disaster-affected areas.

If your phone lines are disrupted, organise for phone calls to be diverted to your practice’s back-up option (i.e., a designated emergency mobile phone). Consider recording a phone message regarding your practice’s status and hours of operation, as well as any relevant advice for patients.

If your practice has a website or uses social media, you can use these platforms to communicate information regarding your practice’s change in circumstance. Implement further patient communication strategies as detailed in your emergency response plan. 

Examples of what you may wish to communicate to your patients include:

• any relevant information about the event at hand,
• any other changes in your practice’s mode of operation including opening hours,
• practice entry requirements (i.e., wearing face masks or accessing the practice via a certain entrance),
• specific triage arrangements you would like your patients to adhere to, and
• where patients can seek help if your practice is unavailable or overwhelmed with presentations. 

Where relevant, you may also want to communicate where your patients can access information on evacuation and/or recovery centres.