Review of after hours homeless healthcare service for Northern Queensland PHN
Status: Completed late 2022
Client: Northern Queensland PHN
Through the After Hours Funding Program for Primary Health Networks, NQPHN provides funding for mobile outreach and clinic-based health services for people experiencing homelessness in Cairns to increase access to appropriate and compassionate primary health care.
We were engaged to undertake a review of the strategic context for after hours commissioning nationally, the operational environment for specialist homelessness services in Queensland, and the commissioned service model to provide recommendations for opportunities to strengthen service delivery and sustainability.
Approach
Our approach to undertaking the review involved:
targeted desktop research to understand the strategic and operational environment, local health/service needs, existing intelligence and comparable models in other regions
engagement with consumers and other key stakeholders to understand the service model and its broader context.
developing a report that summarised key findings, presented potential options, and presented recommendations and change management considerations for the future commissioning by NQPHN of after hours services to support people experiencing homelessness.
Project outcome
We presented a final report with recommendations and a revised service specification in Nov 2022. The recommendations aimed to respond to key implications from the review such as:
targeted services like this commissioned by PHNs specifically for people experiencing homeless can fill an important and often unmet service need for a vulnerable group not well supported by mainstream primary care services
the contemporary policy environment and evidence base relating to after hours and homeless health care is shifting and complex, with unclear responsibilities between Commonwealth/State-funded health services and state-funded specialist homelessness services
the role of PHNs can involve provision of both targeted financial support and non-financial support (e.g. practice support) to help drive quality improvement and system integration.
Check out our blog post How Primary Health Networks can commission primary care services to better meet the health needs of people experiencing homelessness where we have outlined some of the key considerations for PHNs based on findings drawn from this review.
