Shepparton’s Primary Care Connect has joined 23 other community health organisations around the state in an attempt to play a greater role in solving what it describes as “the critical health crisis”.
Primary Care Connect says the community health sector employs more than 10,000 staff and assisted more than 500,000 Victorians in the last financial year with clinical care across general practice, mental health, oral health and chronic disease prevention and management, as well as delivering community outreach.
It has announced that it has joined Community Health First, which hopes to build a stronger relationship with the Victorian Government and “help fix the health system crisis by strengthening and elevating the role of community health services”.
Primary Care Connect chief executive Tricia Quibell said the time was right to form the alliance.
“We are also celebrating 50 years of community health in Victoria in 2023 so we think it’s the perfect time to highlight the sector and create a dialogue with government to ensure community health is at the table in helping to address and solve the current and emerging health crisis,” she said.
“At Primary Care Connect we believe in, and advocate for, a strong and appropriately funded community health sector, which is responsive and flexible enough to meet the needs of community.
“A robust community health sector can help solve the critical challenges faced by the primary health system and provide for a collaborative approach to a range of social and health issues.”
A spokesperson for Community Health First said the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce has focused on a patient-centred approach supported by increased accessibility to “equitable, affordable, person-centred primary care services”.
They said healthcare should respond to the needs of local communities and foster ongoing relationships between patients and their care teams.
“This is the very same model of care that is championed by Victoria’s community health services, but it is a model of care that is only found in Victoria and is often not part of conversations about how the current strain being felt by our healthcare system can be relieved,” the spokesperson said.