Abstract
The poorer health of people living in rural and remote areas is often attributed to three factors: limited access to health services; a higher prevalence of health risk factors generally associated with lower socio-economic status; and characteristics of the regional or remote environment itself. These factors are all present in communities in the South of the Huon Valley, around one hour’s drive from Hobart.
The collaborative regional population health planning approach, led by Primary Health Tasmania in conjunction with key partners, was developed and refined from a similar population health planning process undertaken in 2019 in the Tasman local government area. Early consultations in the Huon Valley region commenced with a steering group which includes Health Consumers Tasmania, HR+, Huon Valley Council and the Tasmanian Health Service (South). This was followed by a consultation process with health providers and consumers to provide a comprehensive needs assessment for the region.
To do this effectively, partners completed a desktop environment scan, health provider workshops and consumer ‘kitchen table’ discussions to understand the gaps and challenges in the region. These were followed by a joint consumer/provider/key stakeholder workshop to prioritise findings and agree on next steps.
From this needs assessment and based on a locally-determined expression of interest process, a clinical services action group and consumer action groups were formed to work alongside other key networking and community groups in the region to address priorities and identify activities/solutions.
Examples of priorities identified that local working groups will explore further are working with the local general practice to identify alternative, innovative and sustainable models of care or ways of working and to increase access to primary care through supporting health provider training, scholarships, mentorship and facilities.
Southern Huon health providers, consumers and key stakeholders have had opportunity to have their voice heard around the challenges, gaps and solutions and opportunity to engage in co-designing solutions and innovative ideas or models of care. This bottom-up approach builds on previous successes in other regions and demonstrates that this process is replicable and enables community-driven and integrated health care.
Through this population health planning process, we are able to apply co-design principles developing place-based solutions that are more likely to be sustainable, with an engaged and informed community.
Replicating the population health planning model previously developed and applied in the Tasman LGA demonstrates that this process is adaptable to other regions and that local, place-based meaningful solutions can result. Allowing time for effective and meaningful community consultations and extrapolating data, regional-specific demographics and determinants of health allows for effective health planning and local solutions, guided by actual need rather than broader high level funding silos or guidelines.
Within the southern Huon region, clinical and consumer action groups alongside key stakeholders and system partners, will continue to address priorities and develop, co-design and review activities and solutions to suit.
This population health planning process is also underway in other rural regions in Tasmania.