PHASES

Preventing Heart Attacks and Stroke Events through Surveillance

What is PHASES?

The Queensland PHN Collective, Queensland Health and the Commonwealth, PHASES (Preventing Heart Attacks and Stroke Events through Surveillance) is a statewide cardiovascular disease prevention initiative, running through to December 2029. Delivered in partnership with the Queensland PHN Collective, Queensland Health and the Commonwealth.

PHASES supports general practices to improve early identification and management of cardiovascular risk using Primary Sense™ and the AusCVDRisk Calculator.

The program focuses on addressing common gaps in care, including:

incomplete recording of blood pressure, smoking status and lipids,
inconsistent use of CVD risk calculators and
missed opportunities to proactively identify and manage patients at high risk of heart attack and stroke.

The program aligns with accreditation and PIP QI Practice Incentives Program (PIP) Quality Improvement (QI) Incentive requirements, supports team-based care, and helps practices build confidence using their data for clinical decision-making.

Over five years, PHASES aims to support better patient outcomes and contribute to reducing preventable cardiovascular hospitalisations across Queensland.

What PHASES means for your practice

PHASES uses a staged approach to support practices over the life of the program through to December 2029. Different activities, education opportunities and resources will be introduced over time as practices build confidence and capability in cardiovascular disease prevention.

The first PHASES Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) intake for Brisbane North practices will run from July 2026 to November 2026 and focuses on strengthening the foundations of CVD prevention, including data quality, clinical coding, preventive care workflows and use of Primary Sense™ reports.

Participating practices will receive:

access to free webinars and CPD-accredited education
one-on-one support from Brisbane North PHN Quality Improvement and Development QI&D Engagement Officers
practical CQI activities, templates and workflows
support using Primary Sense™ and Heart Foundation resources
recall and reminder messaging examples that can be tailored to your practice
access to Benchmarque’s online training course: Perform ECG and Basic Rhythm Recognition for up to two participants per practice.

Practices will be supported to move at their own pace and choose activities suited to their needs and readiness.

What can you do now

Choose up to four continuous quality improvement (CQI) activities from the CQI guide and Application. You can also choose to develop practice-specific activities you think will improve the health outcomes of your patient cohort. The Practice Development Matrix can help you to develop these activities.
Complete Part 1 of the CQI guide and application and submit to practicesupport@brisbanenorthphn.org.au by 31 July 2026. Part 1 will ask you to outline the goals you want to achieve, which four activities you want to do, timelines you will be working to, and how you will measure your progress.
Brisbane North PHN will review your application and you will be emailed a log in code for the Benchmarque Online Training Couse.
With the support of the Brisbane North PHN QI&D Engagement Officers, work on your proposed activities with between June and November 2026. 
At the end of the project, complete Part 2 of the CQI guide and application and submit to practicesupport@brisbanenorthphn.org.au by 30 November 2026.

Get support

Watch the PHASES webinars and Heart Foundation CVD prevention workshop recording and download the Heart Foundation's resources for heart health.

Brisbane North PHN supports practices participating in PHASES through:

practical CQI activities and templates
one-on-one support from QI and & Development Engagement Officers
webinars and CPD-accredited education
step-by-step guides and workflows
access to existing tools such as Primary Sense™ and Heart Foundation resources
wording of the messaging for SMS reminders and recall that practices can tailor.

Support is tailored to practice readiness and integrated into routine PHN engagement. If you would like to understand how PHASES applies to your practice, or would like support with cardiovascular CQI activities, contact the Brisbane North PHN Quality Improvement and Development team via Practice Support.