The Wimmera Chronic Disease Network has a focus on enhancing care provided to people with chronic conditions and their carers in the Wimmera and learn, share and collaborate on shared care and health reform and system changes to improve person centered care outcomes across the region.
The WCDN work together to:
- Provide a platform for shared understanding and language between organisations at practitioner level.
- Engage community health and General Practice to work on common issues in Chronic disease management
- Map local services for Chronic Conditions: Arthritis, Asthma, Cardiovascular Disease, COPD, Diabetes, Stroke, Osteoperosis, Cancer, Chronic Kidney Disease & Depression
- Engage with National/State specialists
- Source Self-Management training for local services
- Showcase and explore Chronic Disease programs/initiatives that exist in our region
- Improve understanding of the scope of programs in the region
- Map and understand referral process within and between services
- Provide staff training in Service Coordination tools and Connecting Care
- Embed chronic disease management and better coordination of services
- Communicate with General Practice through PHN
- Address rural skills shortages that exist across the health sector
- Develop and distribute information about programs that address risk factors prevalent in our region
- Locally agreed practice between services so that care is coordinated at local level
- Focus on local issues for chronic disease management and a process for addressing these
- Improving the skills and capacity of staff to deliver self-management approaches to people with chronic conditions
- Link services up with external organisations for service improvement
Catch-ups are held as mini forums several times a year – for more information contact Kellie McMaster – Agency Liaison Officer on (03) 5362 1222.