Population Health

One of the Population Health initiatives is the care finder program, which forms part of the Australian Government’s response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.  

This initiative, which began in January 2023, was implemented to improve outcomes for vulnerable older Australians through improved coordination of support, improved rates of access to aged care services, connections with other relevant supports, improved rates of staying connected to the services post-service commencement, and improved integration between health, aged care, and other systems at a local level.  

NQPHN commissioned Footprints Community Limited, Aged and Disability Advocacy Australia (ADA) Australia, ABIS Community Co-operative Society Limited, Flinders Shire Council, and Ozcare to deliver the care finder program in the northern Queensland catchment.  

These providers have also established and maintained a network of 17 care finders who could provide face-to-face support for vulnerable older persons who:  

• are isolated  
• do not have a carer or family  

• are experiencing barriers to accessing care due to communication, language or literacy challenges  
• are having difficulty in understanding information and making decisions  
• are reluctant to engage with aged care or government agencies.    

Care finders help clients:  

• understand what aged care services are available to them  

• register with My Aged Care  
• provide support during assessment  
• find and short list aged care providers in their area  
• assist in completing forms  
• understand aged care service agreements  

• check in once services are set up  
• problem solve challenges  
• connect to other supports such as mental health, housing and homelessness, drug and alcohol services and community groups.    

The below NQPHN initiatives are aligned with the Greater Choices for At Home Palliative Care objectives.  

Northern Queensland Aged and Palliative Care Interagency Steering Committee

The Northern Queensland Aged and Palliative Care Interagency Steering Committee was established to provide governance and codesign the delivery of the Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care program across the northern Queensland catchment. This committee, which consists of 21 members, promotes system integration across sectors with membership from peak bodies, specialist palliative care, hospital and health services, pop-up palliative care, community palliative care services, and health community connectors.  

Compassionate Communities  

In collaboration with the Groundswell Project, NQPHN conducted a series of Compassionate Community Connectors train-the-trainer workshops and trained more than 300+ health community connectors from Weipa in the north to Moranbah in the south. These workshops provided ongoing awareness raising, advance care planning education, distribution of end-of-life care resources and local palliative care consumer journey maps, localised service mapping and identified gaps, activities related to socialising the conversation of advance care planning, death and dying, and effective signposting to identify and increase access to services.    

Northern Queensland Health Community Connectors (NQHCC) Network and Healthy End-of-Life Planning (HELP) app

Established in 2022 to provide ongoing supports and encouragement to health community connectors, this initiative promotes system integration where informal specialist palliative care services and other health services are engaged to present and network with health community connectors. This network meets every six weeks and provides opportunities for ongoing learning opportunities and linkages for community connectors to local primary care, palliative care specialists, and peak bodies. As required, NQHCC network members also create wrap-around informal supports to families affected by life-limiting illnesses in their community through the HELP app. The HELP app is a new initiative for community members in need to seek help from the health community connectors who become a circle of support assisting with collective care.    

NQPHN’s After Hours Community Consortium – Telehealth is delivered by Royal Flying Doctors Service – Queensland Section (RFDS) and was implemented in 2022/2023 to address difficulties patients in rural and remote communities were having in accessing timely primary health care services.  

In April 2023, RFDS was announced as the lead telehealth provider for NQPHN to deliver afterhours telehealth services across the Cairns, Townsville, and Mackay regions, and continuing with its existing services in the Torres and Cape regions.  

In the last year, 6,766 unique clients accessed this service and, of that number, 32 per cent identified as First Nations.  

This program is a primary health care telehealth consultation liaison service to support patients with acute care needs who cannot wait for an in-hours GP service.  

It uses credentialled medical officers, with support from nurses and other allied health professionals who have specialised knowledge in rural and remote primary health care.  

Direct medical consultation is available through video, telephone, or radio communication for patients, isolated primary health care clinicians, such as remote area nurses, and Indigenous health workers to make it easier to provide and receive care.  

These telehealth services focus on the rural and remote communities across the NQPHN catchment, and this medical-based workforce can be augmented with support from nurses and other allied health professionals who have specialised knowledge of rural and remote primary health care.