Health network funding new services to help community

Gippsland Primary Health Network (PHN) will fund new services under a fresh outcomes-focused commissioning approach from July 1.

The new approach has been formed through stakeholder consultation and aims to ensure all commissioned services effectively meet the current needs of the community.

The first services launched under the new approach are in primary mental health care and psychosocial support.

Gippsland PHN chief executive Amanda Proposch said it had been a significant amount of time since the organisation ran a competitive process for commissioned services.

"Instead of re-contracting services each year as we have done in the past, we are ensuring that all services meet current community needs and align to our 2022-2025 health needs assessment," she said.

The assessment was released in November 2021. Finding's outlined in the report included a need for better health services, with PHN's priorities being access to care that meets people's needs, the health workforce, and digital health.

Ms Proposch said the organisation consulted widely with people who have lived or are living with mental illness, advocates and the community for these services, and the overwhelming response what a request for services to meet consumer needs.

"We recognise the seriousness of mental health in our community and we are committed to ensuring people can access the most appropriate services for their mental health needs at any given time— including the ability to step up and step down to different levels of care as they move along their recovery journey," she said.

"Consumers also told us they only want to tell their story once and want people to understand their needs."

From July 1 Gippsland PHN will move on to commissioning strategies for alcohol and other drugs, with services to begin on October 1, after-hours services, to commence from January 1 2023, and a new community-led multidisciplinary model of care with services to commence from July 1, 2023.