Autumn 2012 Dear ISEPICH colleagues and friends
New ISEPICH Member
FROM THE CHAIR The Inner South East Partnership in Community and Health team has experienced substantial change in the past few months with the resignations of Anne Jungwirth, Executive Officer and Val Kay, Health Promotion Co‐ordinator. Anne has been with ISEPICH for approximately four years as Executive Officer and has worked hard to establish and main‐ tain strong and effective partnerships within our PCP as well as broader networks that have contributed to the work of Primary Care Partnerships across the State. Val has been a member of the ISEPICH team for ten years and during that time has provided leadership for our Health Promotion strategy and fos‐ tered a greater understanding of the role of health promotion and equity across our catchment. Additionally, Val has on many occasions assumed the role of Acting EO and ensured that the work of ISEPICH progressed effectively. On behalf of our partners I would like to thank both Anne and Val for their commitment to the role of Primary Care Partnerships and in particular their contribution to ISEPICH. We wish them both well for their future en‐ deavours. As you would appreciate we are now in a re‐building phase for the ISEPICH team. The recruitment process for the two roles is underway and I will provide further advice in the near future. In February the Minister for Health, David Davis, met with the Chairs of PCPs to gain an understanding of the relationship between PCPs and the newly established Medicare Locals. The Minister confirmed his commit‐ ment to the work of PCPs and intends to keep in touch to monitor the developing relationships between MLOs and the respective PCPs. It is with regret that I have received the resignation of Sandy Joffe from the ISEPICH Executive and as Chair of the Health Promotion Committee. As many of you will know Sandy is leaving her role at Port Phillip Community Group in June. Our sincere thanks is extended to Sandy for her leadership and contribution and we wish her all the very best for the future.
Warm regards, Anne Lyon ISEPICH Chair
Bayside Medicare Local Update
The Bayside Medicare Local Board has appointed Dr Elizabeth Deveny as the CEO. Elizabeth provided an overview of the work of the Medicare Local at the March ISEPICH Executive and will continue to keep us in‐ formed of developments as the work of Bayside ML progresses.
The official launch of Bayside ML on 27 March by the Federal Member for Isaacs, Mark Dreyfus attracted a diverse group of health professionals and representatives from across the Bayside ML catchment. Discussion on key primary health care and well‐being issues for the future was hosted by John Faine with a Q&A panel of local health experts. Bayside Medicare Local is on a membership drive to attract both organisational and individual members so please visit http://bml.org.au/ for more information.
In this issue we also welcome new member: Cabrini Health.
Community Participation The Community Advisory Group met just after Easter and advises of some changes to CAG membership. The current Chair, Ian Robinson has resigned as Chair but will remain on the CAG. A new Chair was elected at the meeting: John Wise. We welcome John to the Chair role and look forward to working closely with him in future. Van Apthorpe remains as Deputy Chair. The CAG would like to formally acknowledge Ian’s contribution to the CAG as Chair. Bianca Hatfield has resigned from the CAG effective immediately. The CAG also wished to thank Bianca for her significant contribu‐ tion to the CAG and wished her well for the future. The CAG wished to formally acknowledge the wonderful work of Anne Jungwirth and Val Kay for their extraordinary contribution to ISEPICH over the years, stating "We have been privileged to work with you and thank for your support guidance and dedication to ISEPICH as a whole and in par‐ ticular strengthening the knowledge and role of the CAG." It has been agreed that the main priorities for the June CAG meeting are the review of the workplan and the finalisation of the CAG Terms of Reference which are currently under review. The CAG currently has two membership vacancies. We will be advertising for community members in the near future. In‐ digenous and CALD members are encouraged to apply. Please contact kryan@portphillip.vic.gov.au for more information.
Upcoming Executive Election 2012 ISEPICHs Good Governance Guide stipulates that an election process takes place every two years for the elected positions on the Executive Committee. Accordingly, there will be an election of Representative Executive Positions 2012‐ 2014 in May/June 2012. Member agencies from each of the three specified categories will be invited to consider nominating themselves, or another organisation to represent them on the Executive. The categories for the four (4) elected agency positions are: General member agencies Small or specialist agencies Ethno‐specific agencies Current members are: Port Phillip Community Group, MECWA, WHISE, Taskforce & New Hope Foundation The remaining Executive member positions comprise of 8 Permanent Positions Alfred Health; Bentleigh Bayside Community Health, City of Glen Eira; City of Stonnington; City of Port Phillip; Inner South Community Health Service; Royal District Nursing Service; Southcity GP Services. And 3 Community Representatives One representative from each of the following: Community Advisory Group (Chair), Health Promotion Steering Committee and Service Coordination and Integrated Chronic Disease Advisory Group. We are currently advertising for members to nominate for the four available agency positions. We would urge all members to consider nomination. Each nominee must complete a Nomination form and send to the Returning Officer PLUS attach a written statement of up to 300 words outlining their skills and experience and reasons for nominating. The Returning Officer manages the nomination process and documentation. If there are more nominations than the agreed number of positions then an election will need to be called. The EO advises members of the election process. The Election process and timing is as follows: Elections called from 23 April. Nomination deadline: 15 May. Nominations discussed at Executive Meeting 17 May (executive elect confirmed if no election required) If required, Election called 20 May Election voting deadline: 01 June Confirm Executive elect at 21 June. Further details will be sent out to all members, so please consider nominating for the Executive.
ISEPICH FUNDING
STAFFING UPDATE
As many of you know, the current ISEPICH funding agreement concludes on 30 June this year. The Victorian Department of Health have indicated that there will be an extension of the current contract until end of June 2013, to bring ISEPICH into line with government planning cycles. So, we will be required to produce a one year bridging plan. Bridging year guidelines will be posted on the Department of Health Website shortly. Click here to view the Draft PCP Bridging Year Guidelines. Formal notification of this is promised in the near future so watch this space. The good news is that the three year ISEPICH Strategic Health and Well Being Development Plan is now not due until 2013 so we have time to implement an inclusive process for its development. We propose to extend the current membership agreements until June 2013 to reflect the contract extension. If you have any concerns or queries please contact Kathryn Ryan on kryan@portphillip.vic.gov.au
With the recent resignations of long term staff members Anne Jungwirth and Val Kay this year, ISEPICH is currently recruiting for a new Executive Officer. In the meantime, Karen Hill has been appointed Acting Executive Officer and Cleo Chadwick has been engaged to progress the work of ISEPICH in the interim period. Simone Gleeson joins the ISEPICH team from April this year one day per week to progress the SEBDA project. Simone was previously the SEBDA Project Manager and we warmly welcome her back into ISEPICH. Hannah Merkrebs has also started with the team one day per week to develop the Physical Activity Directory (see below). This project aims to increase the links between health promotion, disease prevention and chronic disease prevention in ISEPICH, including through improving access and referral to physical activity programs. Her work builds on previous work undertaken by Justin Underwood.
Research project Update — Promoting Equity, Sustainability and Health Val Kay, formerly ISEPICH Health Promotion Coordinator, has been conducting a research project with ISEPICH members to explore how health promotion can contribute to increased equity and environmental sustainability. Although Val is no longer employed by ISEPICH, she will be continuing to work with ISEPICH on the project as a PhD research student at Monash University. ISEPICH has so far held two forums (open to all members) on pro‐ moting equity, sustainability and health. The first, in November 2011, identified principles for promoting equity and sustainability. The second, in February 2012, explored actions that ISEPICH members could take. Research participants took part in tape‐ recorded discussions at or after the forums, which will be used as data for the research. Currently Val is documenting the forums, including recommenda‐ tions for action. Val will continue to support the project by provid‐ ing information and resources to ISEPICH and will hold focus groups with research participants in late 2012 and late 2013 to evaluate the impacts. Val will meet with the ISEPICH Executive to discuss ongoing support for the project soon and more information will be available then. In the meantime any research participants or other ISEPICH members who would like more information can contact Val on her Monash email: vabun1@student.monash.edu or M: 0488 294 848.
Community Participation Forum
The 2nd Community Participation Forum was held in October facili‐ tated by COPP staff member Leo Kelly and included CAG members and other stakeholders as attendees. The purpose of the forum was to “explore the status of Community Participation within the ISEPICH Partnership thereby providing the opportunity to strengthen current model and inform future direction”. A SWOT analysis was under‐ taken to explore the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and Threats in relation to community participation and the complexity of the processes surrounding it. A small team of CAG members are working with the ISEPICH team to determine the future of engagement around this issue.
SCIDM UPDATE The scheduled SCIDM Active Service Model (ASM) workshop has been delayed until 26th June from 3-4.30pm in the Board room, Caulfield Hospital. Invitations have recently been sent out to all SCIDM members and some external participants. The objectives of the workshop are: To discuss current practices of
sharing information between agencies and any current related projects. To complete a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses Opportunities, Threats) Analysis of current practice including determining gaps in information sharing between agencies when making referrals To agree the type of information that
should be shared between agencies when making referrals – e.g. initial needs identification, assessment information, care plan
To discuss methods for sharing
information and any potential issues (e.g. consent, secure transmission of electronic information for addition to electronic records, etc.) We look forward to seeing you all there.
SEBDA (South East Bayside Diabetes Alliance) Update
Two exciting pieces of news have come out of the SEBDA Steering Committee: Simone Gleeson comes back on board in April to pilot the Diabetes Triangle; and Bayside Medicare Local has agreed to support a workshop on the Diabetes Triangle for key stakeholders in the catchment. The meeting will be held on 19th June and will in‐ clude a healthy breakfast and guest speaker. Watch this space for news.
Please RSVP to Kathryn Ryan on: kryan@portphillip.vic.gov.au by Monday 11th June 2012.