Projects

Seeding Grants Program

In 2007, the Victorian Health Service Management Innovation Council ran the extremely successful Management Innovation Seeding Grants Program. Five health services received both human and financial support of up to $15,000 to develop, implement and evaluate innovative approaches to the management of health services through specific projects.

After the success of the 2007 and 2008 rounds, the program was run again in 2009. Aged Care Branch and Primary Health Branch, DHS generously contributed to the 2008 and 2009 Seeding Grants in acknowledgement and support of the program. In 2008, as in 2007 grants of up to $15,000 were made available and six health services received a Management Innovation Council Seeding Grant in 2008. In 2009 grants of up to $20,000 were offered and seven health services were the recipients of a Seeding Grant. You can find out more about the successful projects over the last three years below.

2009 Seeding Grants Program

We would like to congratulate the following health services on their success in receiving a grant in 2009:

Alfred Health
for the development of Demand Management Systems for Allied Health in particular Priority Systems. The focus of this project will be the allied health disciplines (other than Physiotherapy) at the Alfred Hospital. The scope of developing priority systems and appropriate data collection will be for allied health inpatients and outpatients.Some objectives of the project are to:

Develop priority systems for each allied health discipline for inpatients and outpatients (other than Physiotherapy) by March 2009
Develop outpatient waiting list processes by March 2009 including KPIs for timeframes for response to referral for each priority
Reduce un-met demand for high priority inpatients by May 2009
Reduce inpatient flow implications (e.g. increased LOS) associated with un-met demand
Reduce waiting times for high priority outpatients by May 2009
Improve staff satisfaction relating to workload stress and workload sharing
Improve stakeholder satisfaction relating to timely allied health service for urgent discharge planning
Share learnings of project with other Alfred Health campuses and other Victorian hospitals

Bendigo Health
for the introduction of Health Service Assistants (HSAs) to support the nursing workforce through the implementation of the HSA role working as part of the nursing team, and on the instruction of nursing team leader. The development and outcomes of this project will be of great benefit to acute health care organisations across Victoria who are experiencing similar nursing workforce issues to Bendigo Health. Objectives include:

To successfully implement HSAs at Bendigo Health through a process of monitoring and continual review based on action research methodology, during a 12 month trial.
To combine the findings of this project with the evaluation findings to draw conclusions about the success of the project.
To prepare a report of the trail of HSAs, including barriers and enablers to successful implementation.
Following completion, to disseminate the findings of the project to other health services.

Darebin Community Health
to develop a business case to determine financial viability for the addition of new items pertaining to Allied Health services into the Federal Medical Benefits System (MBS) when provided through Community Health Services (CHS). At the completion of this project Darebin Community Health will:

make a recommendation about the financial viability of providing private allied health services at Darebin Community Health
develop the assumptions and underlying business rules required to complete this business case
determine the potential income
determine the costs of service provision
determine which allied health services would suit this model of service provision
determine care pathways between public/private services, so that clients can move between the two systems
identify the number of clients that would be appropriate to access private allied health services
determine client interest in accessing a private service
identify staffing issues and strategies to attract and retain staff
identify appropriate remuneration models for staff
identify the level of interest of allied health practitioners in working from a private service at Darebin Community Health
review availability of rooms, and identify potential hours for provision of private allied health services.

Dental Health Services Victoria
for the development of a peer-to-peer model for improving oral health literacy and health. The longer term goal of this project is to improve the oral health status of individuals and communities by equipping them with the tools and resources to better manage their own health. The immediate goal is to identify and develop a suitable peer-to-peer education model in order to improve oral health literacy of groups with poor education and literacy levels. Objectives are:

to undertake a comprehensive literature review of peer to peer education models used to improve health literacy
to use structured interview methods to gather learnings from unpublished action research models to improve health literacy
to identify the critical success factors of these models
to select an approach that would be suitable for adaptation to the delivery of oral health education in the Victorian context
to collaborate with a number of primary health services to identify groups within their catchments most likely to benefit from such an approach.

Mt Alexander Hospital
for developing a shared care protocol for medication administration in the community. The goal of the project is to develop and implement a shared care arrangement between Mt Alexander District Nursing Service and Mt Alexander Shire Home and Community Services on medication administration for clients at home. The objectives of the project are:

to develop and implement a shared care protocol between the District Nursing Service and the Shire.
to develop a partnership system between Personal Care Workers and District Nursing utilising individual skills and enhancing feedback and communication. Skilled workforce will be utilised effectively.
to adhere to legal requirements in medication administration.
to ensure District Nursing staff are resourced to inform Personal Care Workers of protocols regarding medication administration.
to ensure Personal Care Workers are educated and assessed as competent in assisting with medication administration.
to ensure clients will have a medication administration assessment which will be forwarded to personal care workers.
that the feedback system will be enhanced between Personal Care Workers and District Nurses
that the client will receive competent assistance with medication administration.

Southern Health
for their project to build on the successes of the existing Diabetes Coordination and Assessment Service (DCAS). The aim of the seeding grant is to further develop the DCAS model as a gateway for general practice to access a range of services for patients with chronic conditions thus broadening the referral and coordination base of the current DCAS service. The objectives of this project are:

to develop the key functions and features of the services.
to develop an implementation plan.
to develop a General Practice education and training package for Single Point of Access.
to develop an evaluation framework including
- clinical outcome measures
- process outcome measures.

Monash Medical Centre, Clayton (Southern Health)
to conduct a retrospective medical records review. A pilot retrospective medical records review of General Medical patients from Monash Medical Centre Clayton has suggested a strong association between Australians from a cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) background and patients with three or more general medicine admissions during an 18 month period. A more comprehensive study is needed to confirm the validity of this finding but if confirmed could lead to improved care and reduced readmission rates at Southern Health. The objectives of this project are:

to examine a large sample of patients (over 100) who readmit multiple times, using a retrospective medical record audit and to determine the extent to which CALD is present. This will then be contrasted against the background prevalence of CALD in the General Medicine patient population. The audit would also characterise the patient's pre-morbid state, admission details including use of interpreters and post admission care plans.
to conduct a literature review to investigate the evidence of health care challenges within the CALD population and possible strategies to address them.
to examine the current resources and accessibility of Monash Medical Centre Clayton's service to cater for the CALD patient group, should the CALD association be proven in the initial study.
to identify strategies to improve the care for the CALD population which can be implemented and evaluation as a second project.

top

2008 Seeding Grants Program

We would like to congratulate the following health services on their success in receiving a grant in 2008:

Austin Health
for developing a subacute referral, assessment and waiting list system involving the design, implementation and evaluation of a combined referral, assessment and waiting list program administered via a centralised database for sub-acute bed-based services. Functions include:

single point of entry for all referral information
assessment function to replace the current two page paper template
database which includes status of referrals and assessment outcomes
waiting list information
read only capacity by referrers to ascertain the progress of their referral activity/KPI reporting.

Royal Children’s Hospital
for their project Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioners in Paediatric Orthopaedics. The project revolves around the development of a state-wide model of care for physiotherapists undertaking advanced roles in paediatric orthopaedics, as well as the development of a training program to support the introduction of physiotherapist led clinics and new models of care. Service and Workforce Planning Branch are interested in this project to augment the Better Skills Best Care program.

Peninsula Health
for their project to integrate ambulatory diabetes services by establishing a single point of referral and a single assessment process for patients referred to or within Peninsula Health for ambulatory diabetes services. The project will involve risk assessments to inform the allocation of clients to the appropriate service and the design of a responsive client centred model for the coordination of care. Primary Health Branch is supportive of this piece of work.

Southern Health
for their project Wellness Entrenched which entails the development of an online orientation training package based on principles of self-management, with KPIs for self and clinical practice. All clients receiving Community & Transitional Services will be offered a service which seeks to encourage their full participation in confidently managing their own health and wellbeing. All clinical staff will incorporate the principles of health self-management and wellness in their professional practice.

Maryborough District Health Service
for the development and implementation of a multimedia staff orientation program that integrates with staff induction and will be designed to improve effectiveness and timeliness of staff orientation. Rural Health Branch are supportive of this in relation to the current time lapse for new staff receiving orientation.

Eastern HARP Knox Community Health Service
for their project Bridging Clinical Risk Management. The project will aim to reduce inter-agency clinical risk through the production of a HARP inter-agency clinical risk plan that is implemented in participating agencies. They will develop an inter-agency clinical risk domains tool and education kit as part of this project. Quality and Safety Branch are supportive of the project as clinical risk programs have been focussed on acute health services. This project will assist broadening the scope across primary care. Programs Branch are supportive of understanding clinical risks associated in inter-agency processes and improving the interface between acute and community care.

The project managers will be mentored and supported throughout the life of their project by the Council secretariat. Successful health services have committed to working with the Council secretariat to spread the lessons learnt and support other health services adopt the lessons learnt through the projects.

top

2007 Seeding Grants Program

The Minister for Health, The Hon. Bronwyn Pike presented awards to successful applicants for the 2007 round of Seeding Grants at a launch on 4th July 2007. Approximately 60 people attended the launch and representatives from each successful health service did a short presentation on their projects. You can access hard copies of these at the links below.

We would like to congratulate the following health services on their success:

Western District Health Service
for the creation of a health specific fire training safety package that can be delivered electronically. The package will include a theoretical component, practical demonstrations, examples and assessments. This will be designed for smaller rural health services where resourcing training may be difficult and costly.

Health specific fire training safety package Presentation (PDF File 92k)

Edenhope & District Memorial Hospital
for developing a program to provide patients and aged care residents with a graphical image of the meals on offer for each meal session. This will address patient/resident perception, expectation and choice.

Meals on offer for each meal session Presentation (PDF File 26k)
Graphical image of the meals (PDF File 145k)

Barwon Health
for developing a Mastery tool for Grade 2 Allied Health clinicians. The framework will be used to facilitate the planning of orientation and professional development for new allied health grade II clinicians to enhance their occupational self-efficacy to perform tasks required in their position. This will relate to orientation, workload, business and personnel management and team processes and will impact on recruitment and retention of these staff.

Mastery tool for Grade 2 Allied Health clinicians Presentation (PDF File 89k)

Knox Community Health Service
for developing a Dental Integrated Care Model, a comprehensive, integrated service through the development of systems and client care pathways between the dental service and other services for people who have chronic health conditions.

Dental Integrated Care Model Presentation (PDF File 79k)

Bass Coast Community Health Service Inc
for their “Healthy Environment Healthy People” project in collaboration with Bass Coast Landcare Network to develop a modified model of the Landcare Program designed to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of the older population by providing an opportunity to engage in modified Landcare activities

Healthy Environment Healthy People Presentation (PDF File 365k)

top