1 every age. 2 The plan's priorities for 2015-2019: a healthier 3 eating and active living; tobacco-free living; reducing 4 harmful alcohol and drug use; improving mental health; 5 and preventing violence and injury. This is the second 6 of these Statewide health and wellbeing plans and is 7 stronger in its focus on health inequities. 8 The Government has also committed to deliver a new 9 10 year Victorian mental health strategy. The strategy 10 will focus on outcomes we want to see for people with a 11 mental illness, their families and carers, and the 12 broader community. It will have a strong recovery 13 focus and a strong focus on community-based support and 14 care. 15 Minister Foley has committed to a focus in the 16 plan on improving access to mental health services in 17 Regional Victoria. 18 These two plans, alongside the work of Better Care 19 Victoria and broader Commonwealth and State reform 20 discussions that Terry will discuss in a bit more 21 detail in a moment, provide a really valuable framework 22 for how regional services are planned and organised 23 going forward. 24 I also think that there is an opportunity to 25 leverage existing and emerging networks in this region 26 to drive planning and collaboration on prevention, 27 early intervention and more person-centered health and 28 social care. 29 I think it's critically important that the 30 approach to local improvement initiatives is 31 co-designed and co-produced through local leaders.
1 Valley community and Gippsland more broadly to have the 2 equity of access to services that exist in other 3 regions. 4 This includes access to those services - and I 5 know Wendy's spoken at length about access to 6 specialist services, but also those issues of transport 7 and other incidental support. 8 The broader availability of Gippsland Medical 9 Students Program we've heard about in one of the other 10 sessions, where they're mentoring high school students 11 and creating pathways to education. 12 What use is it to treat people with presenting 13 health problems if we're going to return them to 14 circumstances that made them unwell to start with? 15 Proportional universalism - I hadn't heard of that 16 before. But the interesting concept of the same for 17 all but more for those who need it most. It's a way of 18 thinking about how we work with our communities to 19 ensure a focus on, those who need it, get it. 20 We can look at the Stamford model, we can look at 21 the Dutch nursing model, we can look at concierge 22 models - there are any number of opportunities 23 available to us to learn and we can implement those 24 learnings. 25 We can attach funding to a patient. Treat locally 26 wherever possible. If the money is in the system, and 27 that is a capacity of a local service provider to 28 provide that service, you should not have to go to 29 Melbourne for that treatment. 30 Evidence informed strategies together with 31 innovation and community generated and owned
1 look, this is what we need and this is how we can do it 2 and everybody needs to put in. I'm not sure if that 3 answers your question, but if we can see what the need 4 is, then I think we have opportunity. 5 PROFESSOR CATFORD: Certainly, some of the earlier 6 presentations looked towards potentially some new 7 funded models, or pooling funds and so on, and if the 8 State were joined with the Commonwealth on this, that 9 could be very exciting. Would your PHN be happy, do 10 you think, to participate in those? 11 DR MAXFIELD: We'd certainly be happy to look at it. 12 Certainly the Federal Government is looking at other 13 models of service, and I think that's already been 14 alluded to. How do you pay for things differently 15 rather than just rewarding people for doing - in 16 consultation, as the Medicare system currently does, 17 how can we change that. 18 I think that part of our role will be to take our 19 private providers along for the discussion on that. 20 It's certainly asking them to do things differently, 21 but I think we've certainly got a core group out there 22 who, provided that they were engaged in the discussion 23 in the right way, would be amenable to looking at other 24 ways of achieving better health outcomes. 25 PROFESSOR CATFORD: So, innovation is very much part of the 26 work you want to do? 27 DR MAXFIELD: Certainly for us, and I think Gippsland 28 actually has a bit of a reputation for being prepared 29 to embrace those things. 30 PROFESSOR CATFORD: The Latrobe Valley is just one part of 31 your total patch. Could this cause tensions or
1 care pathways, and then thirdly how we think as a 2 community as a whole about building a stronger 3 community and opportunities for participation, all 4 comes back at the end of the day to good use of data 5 and strong community leadership, good ways of engaging 6 the community so the community has a voice and good use 7 of evidence for where we put our effort. 8 MR ROZEN: Thank you, Kym. Can I invite anyone else to add 9 to those observations. 10 DR MAXFIELD: The primary health network's been mentioned, 11 and I think this is what makes it so exciting to me to 12 be involved in the Gippsland Primary Health Network at 13 this stage, is that we've got the opportunity to use 14 data and to be able to get more data than we've had 15 before. And we also have a structure that's going to 16 be in place shortly with our clinical councils for 17 people to be able to look at that data and then to use 18 all our networks and our relationships with the public 19 and the private providers to then utilise that for the 20 good of the community. 21 MR GUY: A lot of people talk about, for the good of the 22 community. I think where we fall down is our process 23 of connecting with the community to find out what they 24 want. So we really need to concentrate on that area, I 25 think, about how we can interact with all sections of 26 the community and find out what the needs of the 27 community are. 28 MR ROZEN: Just picking up on that, is that something that a 29 Health Advocate might be able to assist with, do you 30 think? 31 MR GUY: I think it could play a major part in that process,