Healthy Communities, Healthy Lives

Overview

In response to the rising incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases in Melbourne’s west, HealthWest Partnership has developed the Healthy Communities, Healthy Lives planning model to join up research, policy, planning and prevention with best practice care for people with chronic diseases.

This initiative had its genesis at a HealthWest Partnership forum in 2007. HealthWest members expressed their concerns over the escalating impact of chronic disease in Melbourne’s west and the challenges of achieving coordinated health care delivery with fewer health care professionals and hospital beds per capita compared to other parts of Victoria.

Adapted from the Expanded Chronic Care Model, Health Communities, Healthy Lives is an ambitious reform strategy that is bringing HealthWest members and the community together to help people get the right health support at the right time, improve equal access to health information and services and ultimately reduce the burden of disease.

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Local community walking group

Focus on diabetes

The first strategic priority (2009 to 2012) of the Healthy Communities, Healthy Lives initiative is type 2 diabetes. Melbourne’s west has a higher prevalence of diabetes than the Victorian average with a 126% increase in people with the disease from 2001–2008.

In the short- to medium-term, the overarching goal is to reduce the disease burden in Melbourne’s west (especially in relation to type 2 diabetes) and to lessen inequalities in health experienced by people in our local communities. 

The inclusion of other chronic diseases and major health issues will be a staged process as HealthWest works towards full implementation of the Healthy Communities, Healthy Lives model by 2020.

Objectives and Activities

  • Improvements in the quality of life for people with diabetes and their families through better coordination and management of their care.
  • Increased health literacy among people with diabetes and people at risk of diabetes, resulting in improved care and self-management.
  • Empowered communities that can advocate for better health outcomes and more effective use of resources.
  • Local environments that support healthy lifestyles.
  • More responsive health and wellbeing services, leading to a reduction in demand for services, including: fewer ‘avoidable’ diabetes-related hospital emergency presentations; a reduction in hospital admissions for diabetes-related complications; and shorter lengths of stay for people admitted for diabetes-related issues and a reduction in readmissions for patients with diabetes.

Outcomes expected beyond the medium- to long-term include:

  • Cost savings through: reduced use of in- and out-patient services by people with diabetes; fewer hospital emergency presentations for diabetes-related complications; a decrease in the use of laboratory and radiology services for diabetes-related complications; fewer unplanned physician visits for diabetes-related complications; and increased access to support at the right time for sick people experiencing poverty or inequality.
  • An increase in the proportion of adults living in Melbourne’s west who rate their health as either ‘excellent’, ‘very good’, or ‘good’.
  • Improvements in SNAPO (smoking, nutrition, alcohol, physical activity and obesity) indicators for people in Melbourne’s west.
  • An increase in the proportion of people who feel part of the community.