SearchAs long term partners and collaborators, this year Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN, West Moreton Health and Darling Downs Health have formalised a joint governance arrangement called the Regional Health Collaborative (RHC).
The RHC will provide the necessary governance and practical collaboration to meaningfully partner on joint service priorities for the region.
The RHC finds solutions for shared priorities that cannot be addressed independently by one organisation alone and works on those complex, system-wide problems that require a cohesive, joined up approach.
How is the Regional Health Collaborative structured?
The Executive Committee governance includes CEO representation from the PHN, West Moreton Health and Darling Downs Health; the five Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations in the region - Carbal, CRAICCHs, Goolburri, Goondir, Kambu; and Health Consumers Queensland.
Over time, an RHC control group will be introduced into the second tier of governance which will comprise of the organisation's Chief Operating Officers/Senior Executives, clinical leads and selected director level staff.
The RHC will be underpinned by a Joint Health Intelligence Service that will provide:
- A systems' perspective of healthcare in the region, across primary and secondary care
- Cross organisational data sets, metrics and analytics to inform planning, prioritisation and identification of joint initiatives
- Evaluation and monitoring of impact
What are the objectives of the Regional Health Collaborative?
The Collaborative aims to achieve:
- a patient-centred approach to healthcare service delivery through the provision of an integrated model of care
- delivery of care in the right place at the right time across the region – with the outcome of reducing preventable or avoidable hospital admissions
- reduced duplication and gaps in provision of services and functions across the region.
The RHC will provide:
- a structured approach to collaborative action and co-commissioning
- a shared priorities and measures of success
- transparency and accountability in governance.
What are the priorities of the Regional Health Collaborative?
The initial focus areas for the RHC include:
- transition of care (between Hospital and primary care)
- First 2000 days of life
- Mental Health, Suicide Prevention, Alcohol and other Drugs
- Older people.
Priorities will be refined and reviewed through Joint Regional Needs Assessment processes.
How will the Regional Health Collaborative achieve its objectives?
The RHC will seek to achieve its objectives through:
- investing in transition to care models that shift expenditure/activity away from hospitals to earlier interventions in lower cost settings
- shifting the locus of care into the community and refining place-based pathways that keep people connected to their local communities
- focussing on pooling and attracting funding and resources, reducing siloed working practices, thus reducing duplication of effort and eliminating misalignment
- encouraging the workforce to understand whole of system models, associated clinical governance and work to top of scope
- stronger focus on consumer led care and preventative health approaches
For more information about the Regional Health Collaborative, please contact Nicole Potts: nicole.potts@ddwmphn.com.au
