Health Sciences

Primary Care Partnership Management

Researchers: A/Professor Rae Walker, Jonathan Pietsch, Lisa Delaney, Barry Hahn, Kitty Billings

Funding: $100,000 (Department of Human Services, Victoria)

Research Partners: This research has been undertaken by a network of individuals working with the Statewide Chairs of PCPs.

Summary

This research was developed by A/Professor Rae Walker and a team of PCP managers working to the PCP Statewide Chairs and Managers Group. The team linked the experience of the Statewide Group to the research evidence and produced a framework for leadership development in PCPs. The Department has funded the outputs of this work with over $100,000. There will be a professionally developed training program to implement the framework and continuing development activities conducted through the Statewide Group. The model of working has also been applied to other areas of PCP work including service coordination and health promotion.

The Primary Care Partnerships (PCP) Strategy was devised as a way of improving cooperation between agencies to improve health service delivery to users and reduce the burden of ill health in the community. A Primary Care Partnership (PCP) is a voluntary alliance of the primary care service providers in a geographic area; that will improve the health and wellbeing of a community; and will work in a social model of health (Department of Human Services, 2000).

Organisations engage in collaborative activity for a variety of reasons and to achieve diverse goals, which will also change over time. Therefore, PCP partner agencies will pursue multiple goals and not only those defined in the PCP Strategy. For example, A/Professor Rae Walker's research has shown that the goals of PCPs may include: creation or modification of service delivery; resource maximisation; policy development at organisational or community levels; systems development and change through changed relationships between organisations; and social and community development aimed at strengthening communities. Thus, there are potential pitfalls for collaborative efforts between PCPs.

This research has focused on what it takes to make a partnership succeed; or, more specifically, what are the key variables that ensure the goals of partnerships are achieved. Four research areas were identified: leadership; efficiency; management/administration; and non-financial resources. Contextual factors were also identified; for example, organizational culture, past history of relationships between PCPs and the level of trust involved, political influences, and issues of power and control.

An informal group of PCP managers met with A/Professor Rae Walker, to identify the characteristics of effective PCP Chairs and Managers/Executive Officers, and to look at potential professional development and training. This was followed by a series of statewide meetings to develop a framework for action, which led to the development and implementation of a series of capacity building measures for effective management of PCPs.

Status of the project: Completed

Research Outputs to date:

Conference Presentations

Publications

Unpublished Reports

Areas of Research:Organisations-Systems

Staff Profile: Associate Professor Rae Walker