Community PANEL HANDBOOK
Welcome to the COMMUNITY PANEL
Thank you for putting your hand up to help North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN) design a way to improve access to primary health care for all communities. We are looking forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas.
As a panel member, you will think about the challenges your community faces in accessing primary health care. These might include increased costs for appointments, interpreters, language services, travel distance and misunderstood cultural values. Your efforts will help design solutions to make it easier for people to get the right care, regardless of where they were born, where they live, the language they speak, or the faith they embrace.
Please inform us if you are an elected representative of any level of government, a paid employee of a political party, or an employee of NWMPHN. During registration, we will ask all panel members to declare any conflict of interest.
This guide contains an overview of the process, the panel’s scope of discussion, and what it means to be a panel member.
Why do we have a panel for this project?
NWMPHN’s mission is to coordinate primary health care and improve health outcomes in Melbourne’s central, western and northern areas. Our catchment includes more than 1.9 million residents, who speak more than 200 languages.
Your voice and input will help ensure our work delivers solutions that meet the needs of all the many communities which live here.
What you’ll be working on
The panel will be answering the question: “How can we make it easier for people from multicultural Melbourne to get primary health care?”
These workshops engage with communities to produce:
recommendations for solutions that make it easier for all people to get the right primary health care
ideas for funding proposals to meet the needs of different communities in the NWMPHN region.
What you can expect from being part of the panel?
Your role
As a panel member, you bring a unique voice and perspective to the conversation. We ask that you respectfully listen to the viewpoints of others, fairly represent your community, and be generous in sharing your knowledge with other panel members and NWMPHN.
What can you do?
Discuss health care problems experienced by members of community.
Suggest how these could be fixed.
Suggest the types of primary health care jobs or roles that could support or promote better access to primary care. Primary health care jobs include: doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and allied health such as physios, mental health workers, and speech pathologists.
Recommend where the solution should be delivered: will it be for everyone in a community, or for specific people?
Plan how we should work with community members to deliver this solution if a funding proposal is successful.
What can’t you do?
Change the ways in which established services work and are funded.
Suggest new infrastructure and buildings.
Change the criteria for getting care in health services. For example: some services require patients to meet specific criteria to receive things like surgery, or care from a psychiatrist.
Influence the amount of funding available to deliver proposed solutions.
Change government requirements for how funding can be used.
Change government and NWMPHN policies.
Suggest ideas for programs outside NWMPHN’s catchment.
Code of conduct for panel members
In agreeing to be a part of this process you will be required to attend and participate in all sessions.
Please arrive on time and remain for the duration of each session. If you are unavoidably delayed, please tell the contact person.
Throughout the process please take advantage of the information provided to learn as much as you can, to help you contribute fully.
Please ensure a welcoming and inspiring environment by having an open mind and being prepared to consider alternative views.
Take care to treat each other in a respectful and courteous manner and allow others to express their views.
Are you allowed to talk about what happens during the sessions?
Generally, yes. It’s good to talk about this project to family and friends, sharing and discussing new information.
Sometimes, however, there may be issues raised that need to remain confidential. If this is the case, we will inform you at the time. You may be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement.
Please do not imply that you can speak on behalf of NWMPHN.
Please don’t post about the project on social media. If you are contacted by any business, organisation or media outlet about this work, please just tell them to get in touch with your NWMPHN project contact, who will look after them.
What will happen with the panel’s outputs?
All the ideas arising from the panel will help NWMPHN and its partner health organisations design and test ideas for new and innovative solutions.
What can you expect over the sessions?
You and your fellow panel members will work together over the sessions to develop insights and feedback for NWMPHN to consider when designing solutions to improve multicultural communities’ access to primary health care.
The discussions to develop the key messages will be led by an independent facilitators from MosaicLab. This will involve whole group conversation as well as small group work.
Working in a group can be really stimulating and inspiring. However, you may also experience frustration. With lots of views and ideas being shared you might feel excited about the project, or at times frustrated with discussions going off on tangents. They might feel disorderly, or you may feel you don’t have the right information to achieve a meaningful outcome. During the sessions you are likely to experience these emotions. This is typical of working in a large group exercise.
Overview of sessions
Here is an overview of the panel sessions. An agenda will be presented at the beginning of each session.
Meet & greet: Thursday 11 April 2024 6pm – 9pm, Docklands
You will meet your fellow panelists, the facilitators and the team from NWMPHN, and learn about the project and your role.
Panel Day 1: Saturday 13 April 2024 10am – 3pm, Docklands
We will engage in a number of small group conversations, learn more about the challenges and barriers to accessing primary health care, and share your insights.
Panel Day 2: Sunday 14 April 2024 10am – 3pm, Docklands
We will build on the panel’s insights and develop these into some key ideas for NWMPHN to consider, along with suggestions for what to prioritise.
Recall session: Tuesday 23 April 2024 7pm – 8.30pm, online (Zoom)
You will hear back from NWMPHN about how they intend to take the panel’s suggestions forward and offer feedback for their consideration.
About the NWMPHN
NWMPHN works closely with general practices, mental health, allied health and other primary health care professionals to identify service gaps. Then we collaborate to co-design and fund innovative and effective solutions that make it easier for people to get the care they need.
With a focus on at-risk members of the community, we are driven by a vision for a primary care system that is person- centred, comprehensive, coordinated, accessible, high quality and safe.
To do this, it receives funds from the Australian and Victorian governments.
Privacy
Transparency and openness are core components of community engagement. When you participate in person at workshops or events or in forums on, your contributions and identity are considered public.
CONTACTS
The process is being independently facilitated by MosaicLab. You can contact MosaicLab for any questions you may have about participating in the Community Panel – register@mosaiclab.com.au.
Your NWMPHN contact for this panel is Semee Park. You can contact Semee any time during business hours on semee.park@nwmphn.org.au.