Department of Health Primary Care Partnerships Victoria’s primary health care reform Jenk Akyalcin Integrated Care ‘Partnering is the Future – Innovative Community Partnerships for a Strong and Healthy Future’ conference Thursday 22 nd April 2010

Large funded sector Community Health –well developed Local Government – major health provider & health planner Distributed governance Primary Health Care in Victoria

Primary Care Partnerships Types of organisations engaged

Governance -Local governance groups -Partnering agreement -Shared accountability Funding -Value for money -Cross government investment Primary Care Partnerships The model

Practice standards – Victorian Service Coordination Practice Manual 773 services Information standards – Service Coordination Tool Templates 600 services Standardised systems - eReferral 550 services Primary Care Partnerships Improving the coordination of services

Good practice includes: Obtaining client consent for disclosure of information Response to urgent and routine referrals Practice that requires improvement: Coordinated care planning with GPs Primary Care Partnerships Measuring service coordination practice

Primary Care Partnerships Sharing standard information using secure e-referral

“E-referral, and the agreed common practices that underlie it, has supported us to link in more strongly with other services. When we e-refer we know that we will get good quality and quick referral feedback and as a result we feel confident to refer more broadly than before. We love it!” Ann-Marie Deeker, Emergency Care Co-ordinator, Eastern Health Primary Care Partnerships Sharing standard information using secure e-referral

Integrated health promotion refers to agencies and organisations from a wide range of sectors and communities in a local area working in collaboration using a mix of health promotion interventions and capacity building strategies to address priority health and wellbeing issues. Primary Care Partnerships Integrated health promotion

“[Prior to PCP IHP]..We struggled to plan and implement health promotion projects effectively, however now we are able devise a plan based on what the community needs not what we think they need, and we have gained skills to implement successful health promotion post-PCP involvement. They have given us direction, skills and knowledge.” (Questionnaire respondent to evaluation of PCP Integrated health promotion) Primary Care Partnerships Integrated health promotion

Highest survey result in assessment practice for 42% or organisations Majority of organisations providing support for behaviour change Most organisations have implemented quality improvement approach Further improvements required for clinical pathways and decision support Primary Care Partnerships Integrated chronic disease management

It takes time to build trust through central and local leadership Create an authorising environment through consistent policy and funding Recognise partners expertise and set leadership role Deep change requires organisational transformation Good local governance requires clarity of roles and responsibilities and shared accountability and risk Primary Care Partnerships Lessons learned

“If we do our job well the changes will be hard to notice, things will just work better and people will experience smooth stress free journeys through the health care system.” Sophy Athan Chair, Outer East PCP Consumer Reference Group (2010) Primary Care Partnerships