We are delighted to share our 2023-2024 Annual Review: Partnerships.
WentWest, the Western Sydney Primary Health Network, has been a part of the Western Sydney community for over twenty years. During this time, we have changed and evolved as an organisation is response to the unique needs of our region, however, our vision of building healthier communities, empowering individuals and supporting a sustainable primary health care workforce and system has remained constant.
Western Sydney is a culturally diverse pocket, now home to over 1.1 million people. Nearly 50% of our population are born outside of Australia, with 58% speaking a language other than English at home. Western Sydney is also home to one of the largest urban First Nations populations. We work closely with thousands of medical, allied health, nurses and primary care support staff to improve the health outcomes of our region.
In the 2023-2024 financial year, we provided over $61 million in commissioned contracts and grants to strengthen health care in our region. Nearly half of our funding was spent on mental health and wellbeing, in response to the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters which have impacted various parts of Western Sydney.
Some key achievements of the past year include:
- Supporting 350 general practices and 64 residential aged care homes in Western Sydney
- Managing 537 contracts with our providers across a range of priority areas ranging from child and family health to aged care
- The opening of a Neighbourhood Health Hub, Healthicare, in an area of population growth, diversity and significant disadvantage, developed in partnership with the Mt Druitt Medical Practitioners Association
- Supporting practices in the uptake of MyMedicare with over 88% of practices within our region now registered
- Providing 194,008 sessions of mental health care to 12,234 community members in Western Sydney
- The opening of two Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, with 15,105 patients treated across Urgent Care Initiatives operating in Western Sydney
We strive to create partnership opportunities such as the successful Cumberland Health Care Neighbourhood Networking events, where health professionals and community members have formed and strengthened relationships to improve health outcomes across our community. We also ran our first Citizens’ Juries to deepen our understanding of the health and social care priorities of the community, with groups representing culturally diverse and First Nations communities.
We are incredibly grateful to the general practices, GP leaders, community members, commissioned service providers and countless other partners we work with who serve the community. We hope you enjoy exploring our interactive Annual Review and feel inspired when you see the impact of the partnerships we have formed, both professional and community-based, to achieve our goal of a healthier, happier community. As a team, we are looking forward to what we can collectively achieve with health professionals, providers and community in 2024-2025.
This information is correct as of 7 November 2024.