Primary Care Partnerships to transition into Public Health Unit structure

Beginning at the start of the 2022-23 financial year, the Wimmera, Grampians Pyrenees and Central Highlands Primary Care Partnerships will become part of the Grampians Public Health Unit, combining resources and governance.

PCP organisations are well known for their work in community health promotion, in programs such as Rural Outreach and the Men's Shed.

Wimmera Primary Care Partnership chief executive Geoff Witmitz said the transition would be a 'leap of faith' for the organisation, however, was assured the community work of the PCP would be maintained throughout the process.

"We are part of a change, and it is an opportunity to build on 20 years of gains from the partnership platform," he said.

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"The intent is not to drop anything that is working. The finer details of that have not been done.

"With the amount of change that is happening, I can't say for certain that nothing will change. But for those important things we are assuming that will continue to happen."

The move comes after accounting firm KPMG conducted a review on the PCP health network in 2019, beginning the discussion of the future of the health network.

The three PCP networks will be dissolved into the Grampians Public Health Unit, an organisation established during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to oversee the region's crisis response.

Under the new arrangement, governance of the PCP organisations will begin to transition towards the public health units, which themselves are administered by a local health service - Grampians Health in the Wimmera and Grampians region.

Mr Witmitz said the health promotion role of the PCP network was established on a platform of collaboration between numerous community organisations.

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"We are really good at creating local solutions and having sustainable outcomes. I would assume that will continue in the future, but it may not be in the same management format. But we will have the same outputs," he said.

"Anything that has a community context to it will always sustain. We have started so many initiatives, and while we may not be involved with them anymore they have stood the test of time.

"As far as I am concerned, we don't want to lose what we have got. We don't want to lose the strong platform of the 27 member agencies. I think that is the intention of the government, not to lose that.

"Not to start a new bright shiny button, but the build on the strength that has been developed over the past 20 years."

The PCP has since published a survey asking for the public's thoughts and concerns about the transition.

To fill out the survey, visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PCPandGPHUTransition.

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