On behalf of the Board of the Inner East Primary Care Partnership, I am excited to announce: Primary Care Partnerships have received advice from Professor Euan Wallace AM, Secretary of the Department of Health regarding next steps for the PCP program:

Statewide PCPs will be transitioned into Local Public Health Units (LPHUs). He advised: “The establishment of LPHUs in a renewed and contemporary public health system offers a unique opportunity to improve population health outcomes for local communities by consolidating skills, knowledge and governance across a catchment area. It offers a consistent authorising environment to influence system level change and a renewed focus on place-based health promotion and prevention.”

This outcome is fantastic recognition of the high-value work undertaken across PCPs and a great opportunity to strengthen our involvement in shaping the future of public health including health promotion, primary prevention and community engagement.

Now that the Department has provided certainty around the ‘future state’ of PCPs we have a clear pathway forward. We will shortly be commencing the transition process to identify the high-value functions to be retained and strengthened in the Inner East catchment, and the processes to retain and refresh local partnerships. The Department will be engaging us in codesigning the development of transition plans ensuring the successful management of current activity and full reinvestment of program funding.

We understand that the Department will be sending communication out to external stakeholders including PHNs, the MAV and CEOs of Community Health Services.

We will continue to keep our valued partners informed as more details come to light.

Tracey Blythe

Executive Officer IEPCP