Building Momentum: Highlights from the PHN Commissioning Showcase

The 5th National PHN Commissioning Showcase, held in Newcastle on 13-14 Sep 2023, celebrated another impressive year of PHN achievements.

Since their inception in 2015, PHNs have stepped up to play an ever-greater role in coordinating regional primary care responses. PHNs work steadily to rebalance regional health systems towards prevention and shift care closer to home whilst successfully responding to wide-ranging resilience challenges, including bushfires, drought, flooding and COVID-19.

“Really great content and a good spirit of collaboration and sharing”

This year’s showcase was the biggest and most impactful date. A lively crowd of 160 delegates joined from 26 out of 31 PHNs, and 86% of participants rated the event as good or excellent.

The program was packed with inspiring speakers across Australia’s PHNs, and included keynotes from system partners and international commissioning experts.

We were delighted to see such positive feedback from participants on the topics explored and the networking that took place during the Showcase.

The Showcase continues to be a unique event on the PHN calendar where PHNs learn collaboratively, swap notes about innovative practices of PHNs around the country and discover the latest trends from overseas.

The 2023 Showcase Agenda was based on a pulse survey, and the selected topics were:

System Reform and Leadership
Commissioning with Partners
Value-Based Commissioning
Streamlining PHN Commissioning

“Great two days, and I look forward to the next one! Thanks to all involved – the working group did an amazing job.”

Over two days, participants enjoyed four engaging keynote speakers, participated in four interactive workshops led by PHNs and their associates, and witnessed 21 presentations showcasing the impactful work across the Australian PHN network. We want to extend a HUGE thank you to everyone who contributed to organising and running the 2023 Showcase. We want to pay a particularly big thank you to:

PHN organising committee – Thank you to Amanda Martin (HNECC), Janelle Dufty (Murrumbidgee PHN), Katie Prior, Erica Gilbert & Nik Todorovski (WNSW PHN) and Anna Pickles (North Sydney PHN). The event would not have been possible without this wonderful group of people’s investment of knowledge, time and energy over the past 12 months.
Keynote speakers – Thank you to Derek Felton, Tanya McGregor, Dr Paresh Dawda and Tim Blake for sharing their commissioning expertise with the PHN community.
PHN speakers – Thank you to all PHN staff who contributed to the event’s mission of sharing insights and learnings by either presenting on the day, creating posters or providing pre-recorded videos for the website.
Guest speakers – Thank you to Ray Kelly Jnr. for delivering a remarkable Welcome to Country.
Opening address – Thank you to Richard Nankervis, who provided a fascinating overview of the role of PHNs.

Theme 1: System Reform and Leadership

“I enjoyed the variety of presentations and perspectives, particularly hearing the international perspective of Derek.”

Keynote speaker

‘Care for Me’ (Derek Felton)

Derek explained how health services need to change commissioning practices to care more for the individuals in our communities.

PHN Interactive Workshops

‘Sustainable Primary Care in WNSW’ (WNSW PHN Andrew Coe, Michelle Smith & Anthony Thompson)

Andrew and the team discussed the challenges of primary care in Western and Far West NSW and their vision for change.

PHN Presentations

‘Brisbane North PHN’s CHSP Consortium’ (Brisbane North PHN Sharon Sweeney & Anu Manoharan)

Sharon & Anu discussed the implementation of the CHSP consortium and the lessons learnt.

‘The Care Collective – Caboolture’ (Brisbane North PHN: Alison Berigan)

Alison discussed the Brisbane North Health Alliance proof of concept project aiming to reduce emergency department demand.

‘Regional care partnerships for mental health and alcohol and other drug’ (Western Victoria PHN: Janelle Jakowenko, Aneill Kamath, Amy Chalmers, Monica Murnane & Natalie Haugh)

The team discussed how place-based commissioning enabled the design of a blended model of care for mental health and alcohol and other drug support needs.

‘Healthy Minds Healthy Lives’ (Darling Downs & West Moreton PHN: Kimberley Lloyd-Jones, Greg Neilson, Emma Foreman & Jen Newbould)

The team discussed their Mental Health, Suicide Prevention, Alcohol and Other Drug joint regional strategic planning.

PHN Posters & Pre-recordings

‘Palliative Care Needs Assessment’ (HNECC PHN: Charles Broadfoot & Alison Clark)

Charles & Alison discussed how robust data analysis identifies priority needs and allows for developing action statements supporting and improving the region’s needs for palliative care services.

‘Coordinating Care through Remote Patient Monitoring’ (Gippsland PHN: Jared Slater)

Jared discussed how Gippsland PHN commissioned 12 general practices to provide care coordination virtually through remote patient monitoring to reduce the high levels of preventable hospitalisations caused by chronic health conditions within the community.

Theme 2: Commissioning with Partners

“I enjoyed hearing from commissioners from other sectors – Tanya McGregor from SA Health was excellent.”

Keynote Speaker

‘Commissioning for Aboriginal Health (SA Health: Tanya McGregor)

Tanya explained the commissioning journey for better health comes for Aboriginal Children (0-5 years) in South Australia.

PHN Interactive Workshops

‘Partnering with First Nation Communities’ (Brisbane South PHN & Institute of Urban Indigenous Health (IUIH): Nyaree Mewett)

Nyaree detailed how the PHN & IUIH have been empowering First Nations Communities within the region by changing how they commission.

PHN Presentations

‘Utilising the Peer Workforce to Enhance Suicide Support Services’ (Murrumbidgee PHN: Donna Jeffery)

Donna provided details and insights into the Peer Enhancement trial, creating well people and resilient communities across the Murrumbidgee.

‘Culturally & linguistically diverse communities mental health navigator project’ (Nepean Blue Mountains PHN: Monique Pryce)

Monique discussed how the PHN increased access and awareness of services and support within the NBM CALD Communities.

‘Early intervention speech pathology program’ (Central & Eastern Sydney PHN: Kylie Sommerville)

Kylie discussed how they identified a service gap within the community and developed a partnership with SLHD to provide an early intervention speech pathology program to deliver better outcomes.

‘Collaborative commissioning initiative for frail & older people’ (Sydney North PHN: Hannah Hanfry & Justine Barnard)

Hannah & Justine discussed using a population health approach to reduce the emergency department utilisation rate of frail and older people within the areas.

‘North Coast Health Connect’ (Healthy North Coast: Paul Fernon & Georgina Davis)

Paul & Georgina discussed improving primary care access within the North Coast by connecting individuals to the right care via Health Connect.

‘Working in collaboration with providers’ (HNECC: Elise Smith)

Elise discussed the benefits of community practice & cultural immersion in providing First Nations mental health programs.

PHN Posters & Pre-recordings

‘Co-designed general practice pilot’ (Brisbane South PHN: Angela How)

Angela discussed how Brisbane South shaped Voluntary Patient Registration to work within the region by co-designing a general practice pilot.

‘Head to health Digital Health Implementation’ (Capital Health Network: Stephanie Lantern, Russelle Trinidad & Taylor Carriage)

The team discussed how they implemented Think Mental Health to deliver their Head to Health program to combat the barriers to accessing effective treatment within the region.

‘The Way Back Support Service & Universal Aftercare’ (Capital Health Network: Rachael Baker)

Rachael discussed CHN’s experience of their Way Back support services pilot program, providing suicide aftercare services to the ACT region.

‘EngAGE’ (HNECC, Trinh Huynh)

Trinh discussed leveraging community partnerships to deliver innovative, cost-effective, and evidence-based exercise programs to reduce social isolation in older adults.

‘Smarter Safer Homes Pilot’ (HNECC, Trinh Huynh)

Trinh discussed how HNECC implemented the Smarter Safer Homes pilot to support people with dementia or at risk of mental ill-health on the Central Coast.

‘The Compass Project’ (North-Western Melbourne PHN: (Brendan Park, Nicole Fedke & Suzanne Moore)

The poster demonstrated how NWM PHN connects mental health paediatric specialists and community services.

‘GP Liaison in Alcohol & Other Drugs’ (CESPHN: Paul Hardy & Jess Zeng)

The poster demonstrated how CESPHN supports the delivery of a GP shared care project to assist GPs and specialist Alcohol and Other Drug services to work together.

‘Introducing patient reported experience measures to PHT commissioned providers’ (Primary Health Tasmania: Joyleene Abrey)

Joyleene discussed the development of a toolkit to facilitate identifying, documenting and centralising plans that are in place within residential aged care facilities for the after-hour period.

‘Multicultural health: Improving access and equity through culturally responsive commissioning’ (Brisbane South PHN: Andrea Vancia)

Andrea discussed how the PHN worked on breaking down barriers experienced by CALD communities by implementing culturally responsive services within the region.

Theme 3: Value-Based Commissioning

“Fantastic range of presentations from other PHNs and sponsors. I learnt so much about what others are doing and came away feeling inspired. It was also great to meet so many new people and make connections that can really help with my work.”

Keynote Speaker

Value-based Commissioning’ (Dr. Paresh Dawda)

Paresh discussed what PHNs could learn from Australia and internationally regarding value-based health care.

PHN Interactive Workshops

‘Commissioning integrated care approaches to mental Health’ WentWest: Jelly Magirazi, Sara Tejani, Purva Dixit, Mackenzie Davie & Rachel Yu

The team discussed a three-tier procurement process for mental health focusing on delivering and paying for outcomes.

Rebbeck Interactive Workshops

‘Advancing the frontier of regional PHN commissioning‘ Jay Rebbeck

Jay discusses how PHNs can accelerate improvement in the health and well-being communities they serve.

PHN Presentations

‘Southern Moreton Bay Islands (SMBI) Community Impact Initiative (Brisbane South PHN: Craig Cunningham)

Craig discussed the Southern Moreton Bay Island Community Impact Initiative, an innovative shared learning platform to drive change within the community.

‘Co-designing a community-led Integrated Health Care model for regional & rural communities’ (Gippsland PHN: Belinda Panagiotopoulos)

Belinda discussed how they undertook work to more fully explore how an integrated, placed-based primary care model in rural and remote regions of Victoria could look by utilising a community-led multidisciplinary model of care program.

‘Addressing health inequities in Melbourne’s North-West’ (North-Western Melbourne PHN: Emma McKeown)

Emma discussed how NWMPHN developed an Access and Equity Framework to provide a foundation for identifying five priority areas of inequitable health outcomes within the region.

‘Partnering for Outcomes in Alcohol and Other Drug Services’. (South Western Sydney PHN: Pritika Desai, Swati Vir & James Kastrounis)

The team discussed a collaborative approach to outcomes-focused commissioning with alcohol and other drug services.

‘Social Prescribing – creating meaningful change’ (Coordinare: Simone Jones)

Simone discussed ‘We Dare’, a social prescribing co-design approach that addressed the non-clinical unmet community needs of the community.

‘Partnership in Aboriginal Health Internship’ (Adelaide PHN: Vatan Kotli)

Vatan discussed how Adelaide PHN and Northern Adelaide Local Health Network co-designed a medical education program to facilitate Intern Medical Officers.

PHN Posters & Pre-recordings

‘Social Workers in General Practice Pilot Program’ (Capital Health Network: Gill O’Donnell, Mamta Porwal & Anais le Gall)

This poster highlighted a CHN-funded pilot program with social workers embedded in general practices.

‘Developing “I” statements to drive Primary Mental Health Care and Alcohol and Other Drug Service outcomes’ (Gippsland PHN: Katie Foster)

Katie discussed how Gippsland PHN designed a primary mental health care and alcohol and other drug services strategy based on three key I statements, co-designed with service providers, community members and professionals.

‘Identifying & Tacking health inequities’ (North-Western Melbourne PHN: Emma McKeown & Naomi Baldwin)

In addition to presenting, NWMPHN also developed a poster on their Access and Equity Framework to provide a foundation for identifying five priority areas of inequitable health outcomes within the region.

Theme 4: Streamlining PHN Commissioning

“The event was an excellent opportunity for PHNs to come together and share our work and the innovations happening in our regions.”

Keynote Speaker

‘What commissioning techniques & tools are being used to streamline commissioning’ (Tim Blake)

Tim discussed using Digital and Data to improve the measurement of commissioning outcomes and processes

PHN Interactive Workshops

‘GitHub – a tool for PHNs’ (North-Western Melbourne PHN: Brendon Wickman & South Western Sydney PHN: David Wales)

Brendon and David discussed how they used GitHub to analyse data consistently and collaborate on data projects, as well as how other PHNs can increase efficiency and work together to improve outcomes through the use of this tool.

PHN Presentations

‘How continuous quality improvement can be embedded in the commissioning?’ (WA Primary Health Alliance: Claire Marwood & Misty Carey)

Claire & Misty described the process of developing continuous quality improvement (CQI) of its commissioned services by establishing a Program Improvement Team.

‘Improving Health Equity to Primary Care for First Nations Peoples‘ (Northern Queensland PHN: Gilyan Thorn)

Gilyan described how Northern Queensland PHN developed a Continuous Quality Improvement Program to improve equity of primary health care services for First Nations People in Northern Queensland.

‘Collaborative Commissioning for a network of Care finders’ (Eastern Melbourne PHN on behalf of the Victorian Tasmanian Alliance: Narelle Quinn)

Narelle presented how EMPHN, SEMPHN, WVPHN, NWMPHN & GPHN collaborated to streamline the Care Finder procurement process across the Alliance.

‘Health Programs Strategy & Logic‘ (Primary Health Tasmania: Saman Farahangiz)

Saman discussed how the PHN identified two priority areas from their Health Needs Assessment and how they developed logic models and built strategies to improve outcomes for the community.

PHN Posters & Pre-recordings

‘Care finder co-design, procurement and service establishment’ (Capital Health Network: Tatenda Chitsungo, Hope McMahon, Rachel Baker & Anais le Gal)

The team demonstrated how they utilised a project management approach to implement the new care finder program within the region within 10 months.

‘Making space for all the voices’ (North-Western Melbourne PHN: (Ariana Mancarella & Naomi Baldwin)

Ariana & Naomi presented how the PHN builds community engagement in Melbourne’s North West through a community participation plan.

‘After Hours Support plan toolkit Residential Aged Care’ (Primary Health Tasmania: Suezanne Horder)

Suezanne discusses how PHT developed an after-hour support planning toolkit for residential aged care facilities to reduce hospital admissions and improve after-hour medical residential aged care support.