Primary Health Branch policy and funding guidelines

Primary Health Branch policy and funding guidelines––2006–07 to 2008–09 (2008–09 update) iii
Foreword
This is the second and final annual update of the Primary
Health Branch policy and funding guidelines 2006–07
to 2008–09, published in 2006. This replaces the
2007–08 edition.
This document incorporates an update of the Primary Health
Branch policy and program activities and development work
with the sector. Most of the updates are regarding progress
of sector development activities or minor program changes.
Additional funding announced in the State Budget 2008–09
included expansion of the Early Intervention in Chronic
Disease, Aboriginal Health Promotion and Chronic Care
Partnership, and Refugee Health Nurse programs; and the
introduction of the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies initiative
to improve antenatal care for disadvantaged mothers in
growth areas of Melbourne. The Commonwealth Dental
Health Program will commence from 1 July 2008 and will
involve additional funding to the Victorian public dental
health sector of approximately $75 million over three years.
Primary health organisations have continued to provide
varied and important services and programs to people from
diverse backgrounds across Victoria. Community health
services continue to demonstrate their capacity to respond
to emerging issues and people most in need in a positive
and timely way. For example, the new initiatives targeting
child health, drought issues, refugee (Refugee Health Nurse
program) and Indigenous communities (Aboriginal Health
Promotion and Chronic Care Partnership), and people with
chronic and complex conditions.
Towards a Demand Management Framework for Community
Health Services (DHS, 2008) was introduced in 2007–08 to
improve the consistency of practices in measuring and
managing demand, and to support and improve fair and
equitable access to services. In 2008–09, agencies will
capture waiting time data as part of their quarterly reporting
process. This will improve service planning exercises at both
the local and state levels.
A key challenge set out for the sector in the three year period
from 2006–09 was improving integration between services.
Primary Care Partnerships continue to be the way to build an
integrated primary health care system in Victoria and support
strong integrated partnerships across the human
services sector.
It is proposed that the next phase of Care in Your Community
will be implemented in 2008–09. This policy responds to the
increasing emphasis on community-based health care and
improving access to and capacity of these services.
Partnerships will be based on local government areas (LGAs)
within Department of Human Services regional boundaries
and will build on the experiences of Primary Care
Partnerships and Hospital Admissions Risk Program Chronic
Disease Management initiatives.
NURSE-ON-CALL, introduced in 2006, has added to the
health system’s capacity to integrate health services and
inform consumers. Since its inception, calls to the service
have been steadily increasing (with approximately 400,000
calls in 2006–07) and users report an extremely high level of
satisfaction with the service.
Since the release of the Improving Victoria’s oral health policy
in July 2007 work is continuing to progress the dental health
funding review and developing an integrated service model
for adults and children. Implementation of this policy is a key
piece of work for the Primary Health Branch and the sector in
2008–09 and beyond.
Without a viable and sustainable workforce, service provision
will be significantly impaired. The Primary Health Branch
continues to work in collaboration with Workforce Branch to
ensure primary care services and goals are considered in
their initiatives wherever possible. In addition, the branch has
conducted some discrete workforce projects aimed at
improving recruitment and retention in the primary
care sector.
The next three-year service agreement cycle (2009–10 to
2011–12) will provide an opportunity to review the work
achieved to date and define the strategic plan for the future.
These guidelines will be significantly reviewed in light of
these future directions. It will be important for the new
directions for Primary Health to consider opportunities that
will enable:
• the primary health sector to grow and strengthen its role in
the delivery of health services
• primary health services to contribute to health outcome for
those Victorians most at risk
• the primary health sector to contribute to a more
integrated and coordinated health system.