Researchers working on a comprehensive assessment of health service delivery across Northern Australia will discuss their report outcomes and recommendations during a live webinar event on Monday 10th August 2020.

The Northern Australia health service delivery situational analysis report is the first pan-northern assessment of issues and priorities for health service delivery.

The eight-month study examined the sector’s current state-of-play and identified strategic long-term development opportunities across northern Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia.

CRCNA CEO Jed Matz said the project has delivered a strong foundation for further health sector collaboration, advocacy, funding and policy development to improve health systems and health outcomes across Northern Australia.

Project leaders, James Cook University Professor Maxine Whittaker and Professor Sarah Larkins worked with a team including representatives from the Northern Territory Government’s Top End Health Service, the Rural Clinical School of Western Australia and the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service, who co-invested in the project.

“This webinar will be an opportunity to discuss and present strategies to address some of the key challenges impacting on health service delivery across Northern Australia.

“We will work through the priority areas identified for further activity and investment and discuss how implementing these could improve the health and productivity of Northern Australians whilst delivering better services at reduced cost.”

Some of the key findings of the Northern Australian health service delivery situational analysis include:

• The need to re-orient health financing models towards prevention and outcomes.
• Further investment and innovation in strategies to attract and retain health professionals.
• Investing in more community-led primary healthcare models across the north could also reduce potentially preventable hospitalisations (PPH) in the north, which cost around $240 million each year, or around 7 percent of national PPH expenditure (higher than the national per person average).
• Investment in and support for northern-based institutions to drive their own programming with a focus on effective coverage and efficiency, to ensure the contexts and realities of the north are properly understood and to facilitate rapid implementation of findings into practice and policy.
• Establish an independent, cross-jurisdictional Northern Australia health system network to jointly and systematically identify cross-jurisdictional health systems issues and areas of potential harmonisation and development.
• Opportunities to grow and develop partnerships with our Asia Pacific neighbours, were also identified, with a focus on health systems strengthening and workforce development.

Sign up to attend the webinar

Register for the webinar here.

For more information

Carla Keith, CRCNA Communications Manager 0499 330 551