Country SA PHN Newsletter February 2025
As the calendar flips over to the second month of the year I’d like to wish all those I’m yet to catch up with in 2025 a very Happy New Year.
This year will be an interesting time politically as we soon head to the ballot boxes to cast our vote in the federal election. At Country SA PHN we look forward to continuing our focus on improving country South Australians health and well-being and bridging the gap in health inequity.
Country SA PHN’s Health System Integration and Innovation (HSII) portfolio is focussed on program planning, innovation and service design that addresses health access and equity. This leads to the commissioning of services to improve people’s experience of primary health care by designing innovative outcomes-based activity. This valuable work, and that of all our Country SA PHN teams, strongly aligns with our Strategic Plan’s priorities.
Applying a health access and equity lens is fundamental to the work that we do and underpins our considerations when designing and developing primary health activities. Health equity is about the fair achievement of good health and wellbeing, and not simply the equal distribution of health care. This may mean facilitating population health initiatives for certain groups of individuals.
Throughout 2025 and 2026 HSII will be supporting the following areas: Population Health; Primary health care clinically focused services/activities such as the Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, Multidisciplinary Team Care and clinical referral pathways (HealthPathways SA); After hours care and access for specific population cohorts such as people experiencing homelessness and people experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence; and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health including chronic disease management and cultural capacity building.
Within this, HSII will have a strong focus on strengthening and building a Population Health program of activities across our region prioritizing: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health; Chronic Disease; Sexual and Reproductive Health; and Child and Youth Health.
A great example of a HSII team designed and now commissioned activity that aligns with our Strategic Plan priorities of building skill, capacity and knowledge within our primary health care providers and aiming to keep people well and out of hospital by supporting primary health providers is Wound Management Education in Residential Aged Care Homes.
Country SA PHN has commissioned Wound Innovations, a local nurse-led service to deliver specialist wound management education in Residential Aged Care Homes (RACHs) across all of country South Australia. Within this activity, Wound Innovations will deliver a full day of in-person training to 76 different RACHs.
Older people are a priority cohort for Country SA PHN. Chronic wounds are an under-recognised public health issue which contribute to significant long-term health impacts for older people.
HSII collaborated with our Country SA PHN Ageing and Palliative Care team to design and develop this primary health workforce development initiative including country South Australian RACH staff. Consultation indicated that face-to-face wound care training was a high priority due to the challenges of managing complex wounds within the RACH environment.
The Wounds Innovation program has just commenced with immediate uptake from over 30 different facilities within the first week.
The innovative design solutions HSII is creating to improve country South Australians access to primary health and well-being is integral to bridging the gap in health inequity for those of us living in rural and remote parts of our state. It is this sort of innovative thinking that assists us to find ways to provide country South Australians with increased access to health and wellbeing services no matter what their postcode.
Published on: February 11, 2025
