Last month South Western Sydney PHN celebrated 10 years of working to improve the health and wellbeing of our local community.
Staff came together at the annual development day to reflect on a decade of proudly building healthier communities in South Western Sydney and to consider how the work achieved so far will continue to shape the primary healthcare landscape and the broader health needs and local services for the next 10 years.
South Western Sydney PHN was formally established on 1 July 2015 by the Australian Government as one of 31 Primary Health Networks across Australia with a remit to reduce service fragmentation and understand and address unmet local health service needs by working with a broad range of stakeholders within primary care and beyond.
Since then we have commissioned services across mental health and alcohol and other drugs, Aboriginal health, multicultural health, urgent care, after hours access and aged care, managing more than 130 supplier agreements. And have maintained our focus on building the capacity of local general practices and health providers to enhance care, and in supporting and enabling the coordination and integration of care services.
During the past decade, PHNs have become experts at establishing and leveraging partnerships to achieve whole of system collaboration and to bring to fruition place-based approaches that truly address health inequities and improve health outcomes.
South Western Sydney PHN Acting CEO Amy Prince told staff it was an exciting time to work in primary care and to continue playing an active role in advocating for stronger recognition of the vital role the primary care workforce holds within the broader health sector.
Ms Prince said SWSPHN was well placed to support and leverage future opportunities within the sector, with the organisation already focused on core infrastructure, including data and digital linkages, to enable our business as usual.
“There are many achievements to celebrate from the past 10 years and I have seen first-hand SWSPHN grow in size, function and impact,” Ms Prince said.
“We have a deep understanding of our local community’s primary healthcare needs and we are proud of the services we have shaped and funded to meet those needs. Our community is at the heart of all we do.
“And we have a deep understanding of the challenges facing the primary care workforce and we are working hard to support general practices and their teams in the face of this change.”
Ms Prince said last financial year alone SWSPHN managed more than $70 million in funding to local providers, and up to 139 agreements across mental health, aged care, Aboriginal health, urgent care, preventative health, chronic disease management and numerous integrated health initiatives.
“Little of the work of PHNs is accomplished in isolation. Partnerships in innovation and service delivery are often the backbone of our success.
“Our strong track record in innovation has enhanced our integration and capacity building efforts. We are focused on interoperability solutions to link hospitals and GPs as well as the development of local medical neighbourhoods through focused care coordination. This is not done is isolation. We work closely with many partners including NGOs, primary care providers and the Local Health District.”
“Our strong track record in innovation has enhanced our integration and capacity building efforts. We are focused on interoperability solutions to link hospitals and GPs as well as the development of local medical neighbourhoods through focused care coordination. This is not done is isolation. We work closely with many partners including NGOs, primary care providers and the Local Health District.”
