As part of Healthy North Coast’s commissioning role, requests for tenders, proposals or expressions of interest will be periodically released for the delivery of primary health care programs or services.

Healthy North Coast aims to improve health outcomes by commissioning health services and project procurement opportunities to address local needs guided by community, clinical and stakeholder input. Registering with TenderLink will ensure you are notified as soon as an opportunity is advertised.

Current Opportunities

Request for proposals – Head to Health Initial Assessment Hub

Healthy North Coast Ltd (HNCL) invites proposals from qualified providers with a proven record in Mental Health Service Delivery. The objective is to deliver the Head to Health Initial Assessment (IA) Hub telephony service across nine Primary Health Networks (PHNs) in New South Wales.

As part of the 2021-22 Mental Health and Suicide Prevention package, the Australian Government will invest $487.2 million over four years to enhance community access to mental health services through the establishment of the Head to Health network. This includes a national assessment and referral telephony service, integrated with the Head to Health website, offering referrals to community-based mental health treatment services. The Head to Health telephony service, alongside centres and digital platforms, creates diverse entry points for engagement, assessment, and treatment. The initiative aims for local service integration, ensuring a seamless care pathway for individuals with varying mental health needs. The service is free and facilitates easy access between community mental health services, promoting a unified and trusted approach under the “Head to Health” brand.

In New South Wales, a centralised statewide Initial Assessment and Referral (IAR) telephony service has been operational since 2021, with eight Primary Health Networks (PHNs) collaborating on its delivery, led by HNCL. The current commissioned activity concludes 30 June 2024, providing the PHNs with an opportunity to collectively look at ways of enhancing and adapting the service model to be responsive to the needs of the PHNs and their respective communities The change in the service model will be referenced as the future-state model throughout the procurement documentation.

In the future-state model, nine NSW PHNs are participating in the delivery of the Head to Health telephony service, the PHNs include:

Healthy North Coast t/a North Coast PHN (lead)
Central Eastern Sydney PHN
Coordinare (South Eastern NSW PHN)
Hunter New England Central Coast PHN
Murrumbidgee PHN
South Western Sydney PHN
Western NSW PHN
Went West (Western Sydney PHN)
North Sydney PHN

The telephony service does not cover the Nepean Blue Mountains PHN region.

A collaborative effort across the PHN group, involving a Steering Committee, Referral Spoke Working Group, and Commissioning Working Group, has resulted in the formulation of this procurement approach, outlining primary objectives and associated activities.

The future-state model adopts a Head to Health hub and spoke model, wherein one PHN leads the management and delivery of the Initial Assessment (IA) via a centralised telephony hub on behalf of the NSW PHNs. Each PHN are also responsible for establishing and managing region-specific Referral Spoke services, ensuring a client-centric experience with warm transfer and referral to the most appropriate services within individual PHN regions, including community and tertiary mental health services where appropriate.

The Request for Proposals (RFP) documents are comprised of:
Section A: Invitation (this document); and
Section B: Participant Return Schedules.

Participants shortlisted by the Evaluation Panel following submission will be required to deliver an oral presentation to the Panel, whereby Healthy North Coast will provide key items to be addressed prior.

Procurement of the Head to Health IA Hub is divided into two stages:

1. An open Request for Tender (RFT) via Participant Return Schedule B.
2. An oral interview with shortlisted Participants as determined and invited by the Evaluation Panel.

Request for proposal documents are to be obtained through our TenderLink portal.

Enquiries should be directed via the TenderLink portal. Healthy North Coast staff are unable to respond to enquiries in relation to the expression of interest.

 

 

Healthy North Coast’s Tenderlink Portal can be found at:

www.tenderlink.com/hnc

Aged Care Disaster Management Planning

Strategic Priority Area: One team

North Coast is identified as the region most likely to be impacted by climate change in Australia and also forecasted greatest growth in those 65+.

Healthy North Coast takes a lead role in ensuring the older population and the sector that supports them are prepared for, can respond to and recover from disasters and other emergencies.

We have led eight regional disaster management capacity building workshops, bringing together SES, community organisations and the aged care sector.

We have also developed disaster preparedness tip sheets for both residential and community aged care providers.

Voluntary Assisted Dying

Strategic Priority Area: One team

In May 2022, the NSW Parliament passed the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2022. Effective from Tuesday, 28 November 2023, eligible people have the choice to access voluntary assisted dying. 

Healthy North Coast has developed a webpage for both health professionals and consumers, with links to available information and resources.

Living with Dementia resources

Strategic Priority Area: No one is left behind

Healthy North Coast has worked with people living with dementia, their families and local service providers to develop an information booklet that will help them connect with local and national supports along their journey.

The booklet includes commonly asked questions for people to ask their GP and/or specialist.

The resource is available in digital and printed copies, with more than 5,000 distributed across the region. An e-version is available to clinicians via the Dementia and Cognitive Impairment HealthPathway.

Deteriorating Resident Triage Tool Pilot

Strategic Priority Area: One team

The Deteriorating Resident Response Tool (DRRT) has been developed to guide RN’s in Residential Aged Care homes (RACHs) to better understand, anticipate and make clinical decisions responding to the deteriorating health of residents.

The objective of the DRRT is to give RACH staff clear information to triage and provide appropriate care for a range of residents’ health conditions, and, in turn, prevent unnecessary presentations to ED.

The tool has been designed together with a specialist geriatrician, consulting with stakeholders such as Residential Aged Care Managers, NSW Ambulance, GPs, and experts from Mid and North Coast LHDs.

The pilot commences in March with four participating RACHs. Evaluation measures will include effectiveness in building RN confidence and reported reduction in unnecessary hospitalisations. Findings will inform a future planned, region-wide implementation.

North Coast Care Finders Program

Strategic Priority Area: No one is left behind

The Care Finders program is a free region-wide service to support vulnerable older people who have no-one else to help them, to learn about, apply for and set up support services.

Care finders can help people understand what aged care services are available, set up an assessment, and find and choose services. They also help people with access to other supports in the community, both accessing services for the first time and changing or finding new services and supports.

On the North Coast, Healthy North Coast has commissioned four organisations to provide this important service: EACH, Carexcell, Lifetime Connect and Footprints.

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Psychological services in residential aged care homes

Strategic Priority Area: Improving Lives Now

Healthy North Coast commissions two service providers to deliver psychological therapies and supports for older people with, or at risk of developing, a mental illness and who are living in residential aged care homes (RACHs).

The aim of the program is to both provide direct support to residents and their families and carers, as well as upskill the RACH workforce to respond to the needs of residents presenting with mental health concerns.

Social prescribing (Healthy Me Healthy Community)

Strategic Priority Area: Securing a Healthier Future

Delivered by Feros Care, the Healthy Me, Healthy Community program aims to build individual and community connections to reduce loneliness and improve wellbeing in Port Macquarie.

The program helps people to connect with community, activities, supports and services that address their broader social determinants of health, as an alternative or supplement to a clinical approach.

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Digital Health in Residential Aged Care

Strategic Priority Area: Improving Lives Now

Timely access to primary health care professionals, whether through face-to-face consultation or telehealth, is recognised as an issue for many Residential Aged Care Homes (RACHs), that in some cases can lead to potentially preventable hospitalisations. RACHs require adequate telehealth facilities to support access to virtual consultations for their residents.

Project goals

  • Assist participating RACHs to have appropriate telehealth facilities and equipment to enable their residents to virtually consult when needed with their primary health care professionals, specialists and other clinicians. 
  • Provide training to participating RACH staff to support them to have the capabilities to assist their residents in accessing virtual consultation services.
  • Encourage increased use of My Health Record by RACHs, to improve the availability and secure transfer of resident’s health care information between RACHs, primary care and acute care settings.
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Greater Choice at Home Palliative Care Program

Strategic Priority Area: Improving Lives Now

Aims to provide people who have life limiting conditions the opportunity to exercise choice and receive high quality care at home, harnessing improved and better coordinated supports and services that meet their individual needs.

Program objectives:

  • Improve access to palliative care at home and support end-of-life care systems and services (in primary health care and community care)
  • To enable the right care at the right time and in the right place (to reduce unnecessary hospitalisation)
  • Generate and use data to support continuous improvement of services across sectors
  • Use available technologies to support flexible and responsive palliative care at home, including in the after-hours.

These objectives will contribute to achieving the following intended overarching outcomes of:

  • Improved capacity and responsiveness of services to meet local needs and priorities
  • Improved patient access to quality palliative care services in the home
  • Improved coordination of care for patients across health care providers and integration of palliative care services in their region.

Education & training funding elibility

Funding is open to all primary care providers within disaster affected communities across the Healthy North Coast footprint.

Workforce Locum support and R&R funding criteria

  • Available to primary care services in disaster impacted communities within the Healthy North Coast footprint.
  • Available to support short-term workforce coverage, allowing clinicians to rest and recover.
  • Workforce-support funding in total is capped for each site, over a 12-month period:
    • $10k for GPs and/or
    • $5K for nursing and/or
    • $5k administration support and/or
    • $5K allied/pharmacy and other.
  • Funding is not to be used to fill gaps in staffing that have not been able to recruit to and not to replace existing staff.
  • Healthy North Coast will assess requirements and approve available funding directly with the service requesting support.
  • Priority will be given to sites that have immediate, short-term workforce support needs.
  • Requests will be reviewed and supported on a case-by-case basis.
  • Program funding administered via RCTI Agreement (Recipient Created Tax Invoice) to be paid monthly, or on completion of the placement (whichever comes first).
  • Practices will be required to complete a request for payment form monthly, or on completion of the placement (whichever occurs first).

Wellbeing Flexible Funding Criteria & Eligibility

  • Open to all primary care providers within disaster affected communities across the Healthy North Coast footprint.
  • Activity must be purposeful, with the aim of increasing the wellbeing of your team.
  • Requests will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, with funding allocated based on team size.*
  • Following approval by Healthy North Coast, funding will be administered via RCTI Agreement (Recipient Created Tax Invoice) upon providing proof of expenses.
  • Funding cannot be used for the purchase of alcohol, or any other goods or services where the vendor cannot quote their Australian Business Number.
  • Planned activities must occur prior to 30th June 2024.
  • Funding will not be available for retrospective activities.
*Team Size
(Total staff and contractors)
Funding Available
Small (1-5)$500-$1500
Medium (6-20)$1500-$4000
Large (>20)$4000-$5000