Topic: Commissioning

The Australian Government shifted the way primary healthcare services are planned for and funded at the regional level with the establishment of Primary Health Networks, which commission, rather than deliver services as Medical Locals once did.

Commissioning is an innovative way of addressing the gaps and inequalities in health services in regions across the country, including South Western Sydney, providing the flexibility to adapt to local needs and drive sustainable change in the health system.

It requires a robust understanding of our region’s health needs, and strong engagement with consumers and service providers to develop and implement new models of care that improve health outcomes.

At SWSPHN, we are now in our fourth year as a commissioning organisation, and are continuing to develop stronger relationships with stakeholders and deliver enhanced services to meet the health needs of our community.

Through our commissioning process, we strategically plan, procure services, and monitor and evaluate those services. This is done in a continuous quality loop linking the evaluation of current services’ success in improving the health of our community to planning for the next cycle of services.

We commission services to address gaps in mental health, alcohol and other drugs, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, integrated health including diabetes, hepatitis C, antenatal shared care and palliative care services, and access to after-hours GP care.

SWSPHN managed 68 contracts in the last financial year, which supported 4,101 unique mental health clients across 27,541 sessions and 1,670 unique drug and alcohol clients on 8,432 occasions.

We have been focussing on developing stronger relationships with, and building the capacity of, our service providers. A key way we are doing this is through the co-design of services. Co-design gives those who do, or will provide a service, and those who use, or will use a service, a voice in the development of that service.

We have also been enhancing services by simplifying processes, modifying and improving existing services in response to what we’ve learned during the previous year, and increasing service delivery to better meet our community’s needs.

This year we have an even stronger focus on outcomes-based commissioning by leveraging data visualisation tools like Qlik Sense to more effectively measure the impacts, and drive further improvements in our services, so residents and patients achieve better health outcomes.