Funding for Primary Health Networks with interest and capacity to expand or establish Urgent Care Services in NSW.
Key information
- Status: Closed
- Grant amount: $44 million to fund 17 Primary Health Network Urgent Care Services
- Application opened: 3 November 2022
- Application closed: 2 December 2023
Program objective
This project will enable NSW Health to bridge the gap between emergency departments (EDs) and primary care by providing Urgent Care Services (UCS) that integrate to existing providers more effectively within NSW Primary Health Networks (PHN).
These services will address the current service gap represented by difficulties in accessing primary care appointments at short notice, which is driving a significant proportion of urgent care ED presentations.
Monitoring and evaluation of UCS will provide insights into services provided, access times, ED presentations avoided and human experience. This project will ensure the necessary planning and partnerships are in place to support the successful rollout of UCS across NSW.
This program is funded and administered by NSW Health.
Eligibility
Who can apply
Primary health networks that:
- are capable of expanding an existing UCS or establishing a new UCS that are part of NSW 5 Urgent Care System areas
- meet the 10 governing principles
- are prepared to participate in data sharing arrangements through the Lumos program
- willing to accept patients out of area or not currently on the practice’s books
- can deliver a UCS over extended hours
Collaborative delivery of services by general practice, primary health networks, local health districts and special health networks is encouraged wherever possible.
NSW sees the Urgent Care System encompassing the following 5 UCS areas:
- Urgent care triage lines can provide an entry point to the urgent care system through assisted healthcare navigation and prevent confusion for patients, carers and families. Walk-in patients who attend clinics outside this process will not be turned away.
- Urgent care clinics provide episodic clinical care for patients with urgent but not life-threatening conditions that are low acuity/low to moderate complexity.
- Rapid response hospital teams providing specialist outreach urgent care from the hospital system to the community, usually at the patient’s location.
- Services delivered in a patient’s home or current location may include crisis care such as mental health or drug and alcohol crisis care delivered in the community.
- Virtual care safely connecting patients with health professionals to deliver care when and where it is needed via telephone, video conference, remote monitoring or store and forward (storing clinical information and forwarding electronically for assessment and management by someone else).
The Governing Principles of Urgent Care Services in NSW are to:
- Reduce the volume of low acuity non-admitted presentations to ED that require episodic urgent care and improve timely access to urgent care services for patients, families, and carers.
- Ensure that services remain episodic by connecting the patient back to their GP for their care where appropriate or for follow up once care has been delivered in the Urgent Care Service.
- Provide complete care for the episode with little need to refer a patient elsewhere. This will include ensuring on-site access to diagnostics such as radiology and pathology. ‘On-site’ refers to services that do not disadvantage or make it difficult for the patient to access (including proximity and opening hours).
- Provide models of care that are flexible, multidisciplinary, and tailored to the local context to allow the right care for the patient, in the right place, at the right time.
- Provide services that are designed in partnership with LHDs, Specialty Health Networks (SHNs), NSW Ambulance, PHNs, GPs, patients, families, kin, carers, the local community, and other partners.
- Avoid duplication of models of care in hospitals and primary care and where leverage existing models of care for a seamless transition between hospital care, urgent care, and primary care.
- Invest in models that are human-centred and underpinned by kindness, compassion and empathy for patients, families, carers and staff.
- Maintain or improve outcomes for patients e.g., no significant increase in representations (noting some will be expected but rate should not shift), no increase in rate of hospitalisation or mortality rates,
- Provide excellent experiences for patients and staff for example, increase in overall experience and engagement of staff, patients, families and carers, improve access to non-emergency care and utilise health system resources efficiently.
- Provide cost effective care at no cost to the patient under models that are sustainable and financially viable for LHDs, SHNs, PHNs and GPs
Most recent recipients
What your application needs to include
Address the eligibility criteria
You must detail the following items in your application:
- Collaborative delivery of services by general practice, PHN and LHD/SHN is encouraged wherever possible. There is also opportunity for specific statewide services to be managed by NSW Health where there is an identification of common services across multiple submissions.
- Your application should detail the expansion of an existing UCS or establishment of a new UCS that is part of NSW's 5 stated areas of the Urgent Care System.
- The specific UCS described in the application must meet the 10 governing principles.
- Applicants must be prepared to participate in data sharing arrangements through the Lumos program. Additional data collection will also be required to ensure capture of complete patient episodes for evaluation purposes.
- The service must be willing to accept patients out of area or not currently on the practice’s books where appropriate. This extends to both paediatric and adult patient cohorts.
- Mode of patient access must be specified in the application, noting that walk-in patients who attend a clinic cannot be turned away. There may be a difference in how NSW and the Commonwealth approach this aspect. Services that involve face-to face appointments should have the technical ability to accept online booking appointments through a central intake service and local referral pathways to allow flexibility in access.
- The UCS must be delivered over extended hours; business hours-only applications will not be considered. Hours should cover (but not be limited to) 8am to 8pm, Monday to Sunday and public holidays.
- Each UCS will be expected to participate in the evaluation and monitoring process.
Address the assessment criteria
Evaluation of primary health network applications will be based on:
- Meeting the statement of requirements (eligibility criteria).
- Alignment with UCS governing principles and approach.
- Readiness and capability of service to expand or establish a new service:
- timeline for operationalisation
- diversity, inclusion and belonging capability.
- Value of offering:
- Resourcing required – existing or enhancement, staffing or goods and services, block or activity funding (where relevant), inclusion of reallocation or offset opportunities.
- Volume of activity to be delivered.
- Benefits and outcomes for patients, caregivers and the organisation.
- Human-centred approach to delivery of the service.
After the application is submitted
Successful applications will be decided by: Minister for Health and Regional Health.
The applications are assessed and both successful and unsuccessful applicants are notified.