WentWest, Blacktown City Council and the Mt Druitt Medical Practitioners Association (MDMPA) are pleased to announce the establishment of a new local health hub, Healthicare.
After more than 20 years of general practitioners and WentWest seeking reforms to primary health care, Healthicare is WentWest working with our partners in Western Sydney to do things differently. We want to demonstrate a new and exciting future for primary health care.
Healthicare will use an innovative approach to building a healthier community through the delivery of integrated primary health care services across the outer Western Sydney healthcare neighbourhood. Commissioned and delivered by WentWest and its partners, and with strong links to social, education, disability, housing and other support services, Healthicare will facilitate access to multidisciplinary, person-centred, holistic care.
Healthicare, a new not-for-profit organisation that will operate the new health hub, is being established as the vehicle to deliver value-based, integrated care in the community. This collaborative model has blossomed from the longstanding partnership between WentWest and MDMPA, representing general practices and other primary health care providers in the region.
WentWest and MDMPA want the next generation of health leaders, general practitioners, practice managers, nurses, allied health professionals, researchers and innovators to be drawn to the region. We want to reform the way care is integrated so that it focuses on the person, is proactive, preventative and builds community resilience.
“Located at the Blacktown Exercise Sport and Technology (BEST) Hub, on the beautiful grounds of the Blacktown International Sports Park, Healthicare will work alongside WentWest, the Blacktown City Council and other partners in the new cutting-edge $100M facility. The Healthicare hub represents a healthier future for the Blacktown community. We are honoured to be partnering with Buildcorp to deliver this world-leading elite and community-focused facility,” commented Tony Bleasdale, Mayor of Blacktown.
Ray Messom, CEO of WentWest stated, “Healthicare aims to remove the barriers for people to access high quality, integrated, health and social care services. We know that this joined-up approach is desperately needed in and around Mount Druitt. By the hub directly supporting up to 8,000 people a year, but also indirectly supporting a neighbourhood population of more than 100,000 people, we hope to increase the health and wellbeing of the community at a population level and in so doing reduce the impact on hospitals and acute services. We are planning for a healthy future.”
Aligned to the recommendations in the Primary Health Care 10-Year Plan, Healthicare will sit at the heart of the integrated health care neighbourhood. After over a decade of no new GPs relocating to work in outer Western Sydney, Healthicare aims to incentivise new practitioners into the region, building upon the existing primary health care workforce.
“Having worked as a GP in Western Sydney for over 28 years, I’ve seen the increasing need for patient-centred, multi-agency, team-care approaches to health. With one of the most diverse populations in NSW and some of the lowest socio-economic areas, we have a duty as health professionals to ensure that we are providing our community with access to holistic and effective health care,” stated Dr Kean-Seng Lim, MDMPA President.
“Healthicare is the general practice of the future, not just for its patients, but also for the opportunities it presents to the primary care workforce, and Mt Druitt Medical Practitioners Association is proud to be part of this journey “
By partnering with MDMPA, Blacktown City Council, community organisations, local schools, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, and BEST partners, Healthicare and WentWest are providing connections to community, bringing health, wellbeing and opportunities to BEST, and the Western Sydney region.
Healthicare is scheduled to open and begin receiving patients in 2024.
For more information, read the Healthicare Prospectus or visit healthicare.org.au
1 December 2022