HealthOne NSW Statewide Workshop 2007
Session 1- Developing a HealthOne NSW service around the needs of the communitySession 2: Governance- making it work in real life
Session 3: Bringing it together- clinical services planning and facility planning
Feedback from participants
HealthOne NSW Statewide Workshop: an outstanding success
The second HealthOne NSW statewide workshop took place on 31st August 2007 at the Mercure Hotel in Sydney. Ninety-six participants representing all 26 HealthOne NSW services and proposed services attended. The participants were drawn from the range of local community partners who have taken an active interest in the HealthOne NSW service. They included representatives from 5 local councils, 7 Divisions of General Practice and 8 Area Health Services.
The day was expertly facilitated by Julie McCrossin who ran a series of panel discussions with participation by the audience. At the end of each session there was an opportunity for reflection and further discussion at each table. The feedback from participants was that the format worked well with many appreciating a change from PowerPoint presentations to a more interactive learning experience.
Key themes which emerged through the day included:
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the importance of building relationships with partners to provide a firm foundation for service development
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managing some of the difficulties arising from the differences in cultures between public and private sector
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how to get the governance arrangements right, and developing them in tandem with the service model.
Session 1- Developing a HealthOne NSW service around the needs of the community
Aims:
- To discuss practical strategies for ensuring your HealthOne NSW service is designed to meet the needs of your community
- To discuss how priorities will be identified for service delivery
- To identify the key issues and challenges that arise in creating new models of service delivery that integrate elements of a traditional community health approach with elements of a traditional GP approach to delivering care, noting that the model must include health promotion/disease prevention and early intervention
- To share our experience so far in addressing these issues and challenges
- To draw on the experience and lessons of other areas of the health system that have developed multidisciplinary teams and integrated models of care
Session summary
Session 1 focused on how to develop a service around the needs of the community. Panel members from Molong, Rylstone, Manilla, Jindabyne and Mt Druitt related their experiences including:
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using population data to map health needs and service utilisation, both current and projected
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community consultations to better understand the gaps and challenges of current service provision.
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mapping patient journeys to gain insights into how patients move through and between services, and identifying how these journeys can be improved through integrated service delivery.
Challenges encountered in service planning included finding those people who were currently not accessing services but who would benefit from early intervention and better disease management. Working effectively with the different cultures was also seen as a challenge. Participants also noted the difficulty in making the time to undertake activities to facilitate integration.
Solutions included ensuring that the focus from the outset was on the people who needed health care, so all partners shared a common goal of improving services for that group. Prioritising integration and actively working on it was seen as critical to the process, and this should include getting clinicians together at an early stage to develop productive working relationships and break down any barriers and misconceptions about different roles.
Session 2: Governance- making it work in real life
Aims:
- To discuss the practicalities of addressing our corporate and clinical governance obligations
- To identify the key challenges and decisions relating to corporate and clinical governance that arise in the planning stages of a HealthOne NSW service
- To discuss the pros and cons of some options for meeting these challenges
Session Summary
Session 2 was about governance and how to make the governance arrangements work in reality. The importance of clinical governance as a mechanism for ensuring quality, risk management and professional development was highlighted. The corporate governance arrangements required to run the 'business' of HealthOne NSW services were also discussed. Emerging from a lively discussion of definitions was broad agreement that the term referred to a formal set of arrangements that ensured accountable decision-making in relation to the operation of the service.
For those services that had already started to address their governance arrangements, most emphasised the importance of building trusting relationships before tackling the details of how the arrangements would work in practice. The NSW Department of Health offered to explore ways of providing further assistance to emerging HealthOne NSW services in working on this critical issue.
Session 3: Bringing it together- clinical services planning and facility planning
Aims:
- To clarify what "integrated service delivery " is all about in practice, and the implications for planning physical and IT infrastructure
- To discuss the value of mapping patient journeys as a tool for developing models of care and planning clinical service delivery which inform capital planning processes
- To discuss the challenges and opportunities of working with a dynamic planning model where capital planning and service model development need to take account of one another in real time
- To identify practical ways of integrating service delivery before building works are finished
Session summary
Session 3 highlighted the importance of ensuring the integration model is embedded in practice. Some of the developing HealthOne NSW services which involve building works recognised the challenges of balancing the development of the service model with the process of capital planning. Panel members shared some practical strategies to ensure that the service planning both informed the capital planning, and was refined by an understanding of capital costs. The workshop also acknowledged the significant benefits of commencing integrated service delivery prior to completing capital works (which could take over a year in some instances).
Feedback from participants
At the end of the workshop, many participants stayed on to network with colleagues. Feedback from the day has been overwhelmingly positive.
All the sessions were positively evaluated with each session scored as good to excellent by 80-98% of participants. Julie McCrossin's expert facilitation skills were reflected in the evaluation with 98% of participants evaluating her facilitation of the day as good to excellent.
Additional comments included:
"Great to see lots of interaction (and very little Power Point Presentations). A great workshop."
"I found the workshop beneficial, great sharing of knowledge and identification of issues and potential problems. Facilitator skills excellent."
"Very worthwhile workshop, interesting hearing all view points."
"Fascinating conversation on the broader future of primary care in Australia."
"This was a great workshop-inspiring and energising. Thank you to the organisers."
"Thank you-great day. The panels were very well thought through to have the right people. Very interesting to hear all the good. The challenges ahead are huge!"
Suggestions for future workshops included:
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Information about MBS items
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Practical information about governance and practice management
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Information on the critical success factors and learnings from other HealthOne NSW services
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Progress reports from other HealthOne NSW sites
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Details of how to map patient journeys and undertake clinical service redesign within HealthOne NSW services
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How to engage the community in a HealthOne NSW service development
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More of the same!
A DVD of the workshop is available by emailing: healthonensw@doh.health.nsw.gov.au
This web page is managed and authorised by Inter-Government & Funding Strategies of the NSW Department of Health. Last updated: 30 March, 2009
