Project focus: Move to implementation
It’s a particularly exciting time for the Living Well team right now as we move into the next phase of the initiative!
On 26 July, Jill Ludford, Narelle Mills and Caroline Holtby team (representing MLHD, MPHN and the Living Well team) travelled to Sydney to meet with the NSW Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Health to present our findings about the Living Well initiative, the care pathway, budget and performance measures.
With the review and signing of Joint Development Phase (JDP) exit documents, we officially stepped out of development into the Implementation phase, an important milestone in the journey to improve access to co-ordinated care in the community for people living with COPD and/or CHF in the Murrumbidgee region.
With a commitment of $11.7 million investment over three years from the NSW Government, the Murrumbidgee Collaborative Commissioning Patient Centred Co-Commissioning Group (PCCG), with joint governance from MLHD and MPHN, will now be responsible for putting the Living Well, Your Way care pathway into action across our region.
This is an exciting time for all involved in Living Well, as we put to test our collective hard work in designing a care pathway that joins up rural clinicians and services in a one system approach to improve patient outcomes and address barriers to accessing timely care.
Ongoing initiatives of this Implementation phase include:
Developing multidisciplinary Respiratory Outpatient Clinic
Establishing pharmacy linkages – patient-provider-pharmacy pathways and possible models for referral and support
Developing Hospital in the Home (HITH) pathway
Rolling out Lumos
Rolling out Living Well, Your Way General Practice Winter Strategy.
Naturally, a formal assessment of Living Well is built into the Implementation Phase. This assessment will closely monitor the effectiveness of the care pathway in reducing demand for hospital services and enhancing self-managed care in the community, as well as the many partnerships and collaborations put in place by the initiative.
Care providers engaged in the pathway include organisations from the acute sector (the Local Health District), primary care (the Primary Health Network and General Practice), non-government organisations (Marathon Health), peak bodies (Heart Foundation, Lung Foundation and NPS MedicineWise), private businesses (community pharmacies), and community groups (local fitness providers and wellbeing groups).
And it’s not too late to become part of this industry-shaping initiative. Expressions of interest are still being sought from the region’s healthcare providers who wish to be involved.
We look forward to a successful three years ahead, working alongside the many people committed to Living Well, forging a new and improved approach to healthcare in this region and ultimately helping those living with CHPD and CHF to experience a better quality of life.
