Evaluation of Murrumbidgee Winter Strategy 2021

⁠⁠⁠ABOUT MURRUMBIDGEE PRIMARY HEALTH NETWORK: MPHN is one of 31 local and independent PHNs established nationally to support the primary health care sector. MPHN works to:

• support the development of a local sustainable health care workforce through providing quality improvement and professional development for our primary health care workforce of GPs, nurses, pharmacists, allied health care professionals and specialists;
• ensure efficient and effective delivery of high quality patient-centred care and improve health outcomes, particularly for those at-risk or vulnerable populations. Part of this role is to integrate local services and systems and improve coordination of care; and
• continually monitor, assess and analyse the health needs of our region through our health needs assessments to ensure we are able to commission services addressing the health needs in the community.

All PHNs have been set seven key priority areas guiding our work including:

• Mental health
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
• Population health
• Health workforce
• Digital health
• Aged care
• Alcohol and other drugs

ABOUT THIS REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP):

Since 2019, MPHN have implemented the Murrumbidgee Winter Strategy, a joint initiative between MPHN, Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD), General Practice and NSW Ambulance and aims to:

• Support general practices to keep their most vulnerable patients well over the winter period, reducing their likelihood of being hospitalised;
• Improve respiratory hygiene and vaccine uptake, slowing the spread of infectious respiratory conditions;
• Establish an efficient and effective process for transfer of care from hospital to community during winter.

In 2019 the Winter Strategy in primary care supported over 240 patients from 11 general practices across the Murrumbidgee region. Participating general practices were able to implement various strategies to support their most vulnerable patients including registering patients, teach back appointments, utilisation of SMS reminders, and the winter wellness bags. In 2020, 19 general practices have been engaged to implement the activities of the strategy.

In preparation for the Winter Strategy 2021, MPHN are seeking to review the outcomes which have been achieved in 2019 and 2020 and to establish and implement a formal evaluation framework for 2021.

Opportunity on offer

MPHN is seeking the rapid engagement of a suitably qualified and experienced provider that can use contemporary, effective processes and analytical techniques to develop and implement an evaluation framework to evaluate the Murrumbidgee Winter Strategy Program 2021 in primary care. Participation in the review of previous Winter Strategy activity and outcomes achieved will be essential.

Due to the rapid implementation of this activity, applicants must be able to demonstrate a good understanding of the local region and existing relationships with local primary care providers will be advantageous.

This is an open competitive process.