Service planning in the Victorian community health sector

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Véronique Roussy ◽  
Charles Livingstone

Until now, comprehensive service planning has been uncommon in the Victorian community health sector. Where it has occurred, it has primarily been undertaken by community health services embedded within larger, hospital-based health services. Reflections on the utility and efficacy of community health service planning are largely absent from the Australian peer-reviewed literature. Using a case study focussed on a specific centre in Melbourne’s outer suburbs, this paper explores how community health service planning is shaped by the current policy context, the legal status of registered community health services, and the data and methodologies available to inform planning. It argues that regular and systematic service planning could support registered community health centres to better understand their unique position within the primary health-care landscape, having regard to their inherent opportunities and vulnerabilities. Furthermore, consistent and effective service planning is proposed to benefit agencies in establishing themselves as critical players in promoting local population health initiatives and driving improved health outcomes.

Author(s):  
Qian Liu ◽  
Bo Li ◽  
Muhammad Mohiuddin

The objective of this paper is to analyze the provincial efficiency of the Chinese community health care service and its differences. This study allows us to predict the provincial differences in the efficiency of the Chinese community health care service from 2017 to 2026. This study analyzes the contributions of inter-regional and intra-regional differences in the total efficiency difference. We use the Super-SBM (Slacks-based Model) data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, Grey Model GM (1,1) for grey prediction, and the group-based Theil index decomposition method to study Chinese provincial panel data from 2008 to 2016. Results show that a fluctuating trend existed in the average provincial efficiency of community health services from 2008 to 2016. The community health services in a considerable number of provincial areas were inefficient. This study also reveals that there existed apparent inter-provincial differences in efficiency in Chinese community health services. The inter-provincial differences of the efficiency of Chinese community health services revealed by the Theil index declined at a relatively slow pace. With regard to the provincial efficiency difference of the Chinese community health service, the intra-regional efficiency difference is the most important structural reason for the overall efficiency difference, which explains the overall difference to a large extent. The inter-regional efficiency difference among the eastern, central, and western regions becomes the secondary structural reason, which should not be ignored. In conclusion, focus should be put on restructuring the investments into medical resources for community health service in each Chinese province. More attentions should be put into narrowing the inter-regional efficiency differences of the Chinese provincial community health service. The strategies targeted at reducing the inter-regional efficiency differences should not be ignored, so as to facilitate the improvement of overall efficiency of the Chinese community health service.


1986 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 444-448
Author(s):  
P. B. DISLER ◽  
M. N. HOFFMAN ◽  
J. M. L. KLOPPER ◽  
L. M. EPSTEIN

Author(s):  
David Lawrence

This chapter shows you how to contribute to planning health services successfully at strategic and operational levels. It first explains what health service planning is and the nature of health services as mainly ‘soft’ systems. It provides a conceptual framework for planning and then goes through steps and tasks in planning. It then suggests some ways of overcoming pitfalls, notes some common fallacies about planning, and provides a real planning case study with its successes and failures. Finally, it notes ways to assess how well you are doing


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Turner ◽  
Natalia Niño

Abstract Background Coronavirus (COVID-19) is posing a major and unprecedented challenge to health service planning and delivery across health systems internationally. This nationally funded study is analysing the response of the Colombian health system to the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on qualitative case studies of three local health systems within the country. The approach will be informed by the concept of ‘major system change’—or coordinated change among a variety of healthcare organizations and other relevant stakeholders— to identify processes that both enable and inhibit adaptation of health services to the challenges presented by COVID-19. The study will collect information on capacity ‘bottlenecks’ as well as successful practices and forms of innovation that have emerged locally, which have the potential for being ‘scaled up’ across Colombia’s health services. Methods/design This qualitative study will be undertaken in two phases. In the first, up to 30 stakeholder interviews will be conducted to ascertain immediate challenges and opportunities for improvement in response to COVID-19 that can be shared in a timely way with health service leaders to inform health service planning. The stakeholders will include planning, provider and intermediary organizations within the health system at the national level. In the second, up to 60 further interviews will be conducted to develop in-depth case studies of three local health systems at the metropolitan area level within Colombia. The interview data will be supplemented with documentary analysis and, where feasible, non-participant observation of planning meetings. Discussion The study’s findings will aid evaluation of the relevance of the concept of major system change in a context of ‘crisis’ decision-making and contribute to international lessons on improving health systems’ capacity to respond to COVID-19 and future pandemics. Study findings will be shared among various stakeholders in the Colombian healthcare system in a formative and timely way in order to inform healthcare planning in response to COVID-19 and future pandemics. Conducting the study at a time of COVID-19 raises a number of practical issues (including physical distancing and pressure on health services) which have been anticipated in the study design and research team’s ways of working.


2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhanming Liang ◽  
Peter F. Howard ◽  
Lee C. Koh ◽  
Sandra Leggat

The Australian health system has been subjected to rapid changes in the last 20 years to meet increasingly unmet health needs. Improvement of the efficiency and comprehensiveness of community-based services is one of the solutions to reducing the increasing demand for hospital care. Competent managers are one of the key contributors to effective and efficient health service delivery. However, the understanding of what makes a competent manager, especially in the community health services (CHS), is limited. Using an exploratory and mixed-methods approach, including focus group discussions and an online survey, this study identified five key competencies required by senior and mid-level CHS managers in metropolitan, regional and rural areas of Victoria: Interpersonal, communication qualities and relationship management; Operations, administration and resource management; Knowledge of the health care environment; Leading and managing change; and Evidence-informed decision-making. This study confirms that core competencies do exist across different management levels and improves our understanding of managerial competency requirements for middle to senior CHS managers, with implications for current and future health service management workforce development.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Guzys ◽  
Guinever Threlkeld ◽  
Virginia Dickson-Swift ◽  
Amanda Kenny

Much has been written about the composition of health service boards and the importance of recruiting people with skills appropriate for effective and accountable governance of health services. Governance training aims to educate directors on their governance responsibilities; however, the way in which these responsibilities are discharged is informed by board members’ understanding of health within their communities. The aim of this study was to identify how those engaged in determining the strategic direction of local regional or rural community health services in Victoria, Australia, perceived the health and health improvement needs of their community. The Delphi technique was employed to facilitate communication between participants from difference geographic locations. The findings of the study highlight the different ways that participants view the health of their community. Participants prioritised indicators of community health that do not align with standard measures used by government to plan for, fund or report on health. Devolved governance of healthcare services aims to improve local healthcare responsiveness. Yet, if not accompanied with the redistribution of resources and power, policy claimed to promote localised decision-making is simply tokenistic.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 140
Author(s):  
Azri Darma ◽  
Hidayati Hidayati ◽  
Fadil Oenzil

Introduction: The high prevalence of oral disease have not been followed by the availability of oral healthcare, especially at the community-based level. This study was aimed to determine the differences between dental health service quality and utilisation of community health centres in the city of Padang based on indicators of utilisation effectiveness. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted towards two Community Health Services (Puskesmas) as the samples selected using random sampling technique. One Community Health Service was representing a rarely visited Community Health Service with ≤ 9 patients visit per day, and another Community Health Service was representing oppositely. As much as 131 respondents were included in this study, selected using the purposive sampling method. Dimensional satisfaction of service quality including tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, were collected by interviewing the respondents based on a self-reported questionnaire. All data were analysed using the chi-square test. Results: The majority of respondents agreed that dimensional satisfaction such as tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy at both Community Health Services were at a good level. There was a significant relationship (p < 0.05) between several dimensional satisfaction of service quality variables (the wide and clean parking area; intense involvement of dentists on every oral examination; friendly service by the front-office; and empathetic affection of dentists towards the patient’s complain) and the utilisation of oral health services. Conclusion: No service differences found from relationship analysis between dental health service quality and utilisation of community health centres in the city of Padang based on indicators of utilisation effectiveness.Keywords: Service quality, dimensional satisfaction, oral health service, service utilisation, Community Health Centre.


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