Is it too soon to talk about lessons of COVID in Melbourne?

Yesterday I was listening to a story about the impacts on relationships of the pandemic - the stay at home orders, the 5 km limits, the curfews! I had nearly forgotten about all of that - or at least blocked it out from my memory. It was a difficult time. But some things are worth remembering and documenting. Tomorrow I am speaking at Victorian Healthcare Week on how the various players in health care - GPs, community health and hospitals came together to develop the COVID Positive Pathways program to support our communities in Melbourne. If that isn’t a real life example of value based health care I don’t know what is.

GPs, Hospitals, Community Health - we can all row in the same direction!

A game changer was the agreement amongst cohealth, NWMPHN and Royal Melbourne Hospital for GPs, community health workers and the hospital to all share a patient centred record. And we had a team of dedicated care navigators whose role was to make sure that people were assessed and referred to the right organisation for care and followed up to make sure patients didn’t fall through the cracks.

Dr Nicole Allard is a cohealth GP and was a lead designer of the first model of care in Australia for people with COVID - the COVID Positive Pathways program. Her interview in this podcast is a cracker and highly recommended for those who want to understand what happened in Melbourne and what it could mean for future health care in Australia.

I know there are a lot of academics who read this blog. I know we at cohealth would welcome their support in further documenting lessons from this once in a lifetime event and how the health sectors worked together to deliver for the people of Melbourne. Let’s not return to the old ways. Let something positive come out of the pandemic for our health system.

Moderator: Kim Webber