LAUSR

Metro North Hospital and Health Service and Brisbane North PHN have developed and commenced a Health Alliance to better connect care across the healthcare continuum - primary care, hospitals and community healthcare in the north Brisbane/Moreton Bay region. The region covers around 4,000km2 and one million residents. The broadly pluralist nature of healthcare funding and governance in Australia does not naturally support connected care. The Alliance is an acknowledgement from both organisations that “joined up care” requires a forthright multi-year commitment that transcends the natural funding and governance divides and is backed by resources and executive advocacy.  The Alliance is built from evidence to create a ‘neutral space’ where the institutions can come together to challenge issues of information and data, service models and gaps, While there is no instruction manual to create connected care across the health sector, the Alliance will target some of the enduring health and health service challenges of the region in an evidenced-based and principled way. The Alliance works under the principles of: Consumer Responsiveness, Systems Approach, Informed Problem Solving, Interdisciplinary and Collaborative decision making, a Peer Support partnership, and, Continuous Learning. The Alliance has commenced work on contemporary health data analytics and supporting ongoing work of hospital avoidance for frequent attenders, connected care for older people with frailty, and better cross-sector holistic services for children and their families in a focus region where health, education and social care has not kept pace with burden of disease and other population trends.