Doctors in Secondary Schools

Policy

This policy provides the operational guidance and requirements for schools participating in the Doctors in Secondary Schools program.

Summary

• Schools must adhere to the Operational guidelines (staff login required) if they are participating in the doctors in secondary schools initiative. The guidelines set out requirements for:
  • roles and responsibilities of the school program lead
  • entering into a licence agreement with the partnering medical clinic
  • Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) management of the infrastructure requirements for the initiative
• Schools should develop locally appropriate procedures and protocols to guide the implementation and management of the program in partnership with the partnering medical clinic.
• The consent and confidentiality requirements for students participating in the program are set out in the Guidance tab.

Details

The Doctors in Secondary Schools initiative funds general practitioners (GPs) to attend certain Victorian government secondary schools up to one day a week. The initiative is currently available for 100 schools and is not taking further applications.

For more information on the doctors in secondary schools initiative, refer to the program information page Doctors in secondary schools on the department's website.

All secondary school students enrolled in a participating school are able to access an adolescent-health trained GP, subject to providing the required consent for the services. Participating schools, students and their parents/carers will not incur any out-of-pocket expenses for student consultations with the GP. The information in this policy only applies to schools who are participating in the initiative. For further information on health and wellbeing for students in Victorian government schools, please refer to: Health Care Needs.

Operational guidelines

The Operational guidelines (staff login required) provide an outline of the high level requirements that schools must follow when implementing the doctors in secondary schools initiative.

Schools are required to develop locally appropriate procedures and protocols to guide the implementation and management of the program.

Consent and confidentiality

Schools must also follow the department’s consent and confidentiality requirements (in the Guidance tab) when implementing the doctors in secondary schools initiative.

The program’s consent and confidentiality policy was developed in consultation with experts including the Australian Medical Association, the Australian Education Union, Parents Victoria and the Victorian Association of Secondary School Principals.

Consistent with common law, the program recognises that:

• any student who wants to see the GP will be permitted to book an appointment
• the GP will decide whether the young person is mature enough to consent to medical treatment or whether parent/carer consent is needed – as is the case with all GPs in the community
• the right for a young person’s health information to be kept confidential will be respected unless the disclosure is with the consent of the young person or it is otherwise permitted by law – as is the case with all GP practice in the community.

Information for parents and students is available in the Consent and Confidentiality Policy in the Guidance tab.

School program lead

Schools will be required to appoint a leading teacher to hold overall responsibility for program coordination duties for the school.

Schools will be provided with the funding equivalent to 0.2 FTE at Leading Teacher Level 3.1 pay rate to support this. This funding will extend from each school's implementation start date until the end of the 2021 school year.

Further information regarding the funding for this position is available in the Student Resource Package – Targeted Initiatives section.

Contractual requirements

While no funding or payment will be exchanged between participating schools and medical centres, schools are required to have a licence agreement with their partnering medical centre to authorise GPs and practice nurses to work on school grounds. This will be the responsibility of the school council.

Further information is available in the Operational guidelines (staff login required).

Infrastructure

Participating schools have been provided with modern fit-for-purpose GP consultation facilities, as set out in the Operational Guidelines.

The VSBA manages the infrastructure and facilities being used for the program.

Related policies

• Bullying Prevention and Response
• Duty of Care
• Health Care Needs
• Mature Minors and Decision-Making
• Protecting Children – Reporting and Other Legal Obligations (includes link to child protection – mandatory reporting e-learning module)
• Student Engagement
• Suicide Prevention and Response
• Student Resource Package – Targeted Initiatives
• Student Sexual Offending and Problem Sexual Behaviour
• Student Support Services

Relevant legislation

• Children Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic)
• Health Records Act 2001 (Vic)
• Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic)