In Country SA PHN, at the time of the 2021 census there were 2,047 people experiencing homelessness, and of that, 698 people were living in crowded dwellings. Consultations suggest these numbers have significantly increased in recent years.
Across the general population in the Country SA PHN, health service availability and access are often affected by several common issues: few public health and/or bulk billing services, few options available ‘after-hours’ apart from hospital emergency departments, large distances to travel, and a shortage of health workforce professionals. These access issues are exaggerated for the homelessness, CALD and Indigenous populations. The Needs Assessment aimed to support the improvement of primary care access for people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
A key part of the process involved travelling to six regional and remote communities. This investment enabled a deeper assessment of each service landscape and the opportunity to meet with members of the community. Ultimately, the benefit of this approach is that the recommendation made a likely to have greater acceptance, facilitating implementation and timeframes to impact.
Based on the needs assessment, priority setting and informed by the consultations, the needs assessment identified 8 opportunities for consideration by the Country SA PHN to improve the health outcomes for this population. Participants are the shared learning workshop supported action on these items, and recommended adopting implementation principles of:
Thanks so much – it has been a pleasure to work with the team. The report is excellent.
We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Traditional Custodians of the Country on which we live, work and play and honour their connection to Country and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.
