Residential Aged Care – Enhanced Primary Care Access Grants
Grants for local, innovative solutions to improve primary care access for aged care residents. Funding focusses on regions where residents care is impacted by limited supply of access to GPs.
Community need
In some North Coast communities, aged care residents have limited access to GPs and other primary care services. This can be due to GP shortages, long travel distances, limited local services and the extra time and coordination needed to provide care in residential aged care homes. These residents are at risk of missing out on timely health checks, care planning and follow-up care, affecting their health and wellbeing and risk of avoidable decline or hospitalisation.
In particular, the regions of Port Macquarie Hastings, Kempsey, Nambucca Valley, City of Coffs Harbour, Clarence Valley and Ballina are in focus, although grants were open all regions, subject to demonstrated need.
The grants fund local solutions that improve access to care, make better use of available primary care services and build the capability of aged care and primary care teams to care for residents.
Our approach
Consultation and data highlighted a number of locations requiring support as a priority and the program focuses on these locations. By offering local grants, the program is placed based, allowing local aged care and primary care providers to propose hyper local solutions that reflect the needs, workforce, partnerships and service gaps in each community. Grants support innovative ways to increase primary care capacity through solutions such as:
• new or hybrid models of care
• virtual care
• multidisciplinary approaches
• workflow efficiencies
• nurse led or supported models
• workforce development in primary or aged care teams
• transport supports
Grants have been awarded to those organisations and partnerships that truly understood the local need, intended to work collaboratively and offered practical solutions that would have sustainable impact.
Consultation
Healthy North Coast consulted extensively with residential aged care homes, GPs, general practices, nurse practitioners, allied health providers, Local Health District stakeholders and solution providers to design the grants program.
Applicants were then required to demonstrate local collaboration and co-design and all funded solutions were co-designed with residents, primary care providers and aged care homes.
Key activities
Following data analysis and sector consultation, an EOI for grants of up to $90,000 was offered to providers proposing local ‘thin market’ solutions. Five grants were awarded totalling $415,000, including four general practices and one residential aged care provider. These are:
• Flynns Beach Medical, Port Macquarie – A locally tailored model that improves GP access for aged care residents through better coordination between the practice and aged care homes, including a nurse coordinator role and a mix of in-person and telehealth care.
• Woopi Medical, Coffs region – A nurse-led coordination model designed to free up GP time, reduce administrative burden and improve planning, communication and follow-up for aged care residents.
• St Andrew’s Ballina – A transport initiative that helps residents attend GP, dental, allied health and specialist appointments, with a focus on residents who have limited mobility, cognitive impairment or little family support.
• Rose Avenue Medical, Coffs region – A nurse coordinator model that supports assessment, triage, scheduling and communication between the medical practice, aged care homes, residents and families.
• Your Family Practice, Laurieton – A workforce development project that builds the skills and confidence of international medical graduates and early-career doctors to provide aged care and palliative care services.
• The Physio Movement, Woolgoolga and Coffs / potential Clarence focus – An allied health model focused on improving resident strength, balance and mobility, with potential to reduce falls risk and support primary care capacity by addressing preventable physical decline.
Objectives
The program aims to improve access to regular primary health care for older people living in residential aged care homes in thin market areas. It seeks to increase the number of residents who receive regular health assessments, care planning and primary care visits, improve quality and continuity of care, strengthen coordination between aged care homes and primary care providers, build local workforce and system capacity, and test practical place-based models that can be sustained or scaled beyond the grant period.