Client: Gippsland Medicare Local was the lead agency responsible for population health planning for the Gippsland region in Victoria in 2014. Larter previously assisted GML with needs assessments and consultations to inform the After Hours GP services, Care Coordination and Supplementary Services and Access to Allied Psychological Services (ATAPS) Tier 2 programs.
Project: Like other Medicare Locals around Australia, Gippsland Medicare Local prepared reports for the Australian Government, including regional population health needs assessment. In 2014, Larter consultants were engaged to transform Gippsland Medicare Local’s Comprehensive Needs Assessment into two community communiqués – a public document to communicate the needs assessment process and findings and two-page findings summary.
Approach: As the report had been written earlier in the year, Larter scanned the publicly available data sets in order to include the most recent data. We then reviewed the government report, carefully distilling the main points, removing content that wouldn’t speak to a broader audience and structuring the information into a logical and digestible format. Larter partnered with a graphic designer to combine infographics and short text summaries of the seven priority health needs for the Gippsland community and you can download this resource below.
Outcome: This project commenced at a difficult time, just after the Australian Government announced that it would disband Medicare Locals in the coming year. By creating a snap shot of the health need in the region for the wider community, Gippsland Medicare Local was able to not only highlight health needs in the region, they were able to send the message wider than just health service providers and showcase their population health planning role.
Get in touch to discuss ways to engage your community or assess the health need for your program.