Archived Grant Opportunity View - GO6598

The purpose of this grant opportunity is to provide funding to the Hunter New England and Central Coast (HNECC) PHN to develop the PHN Allied Health Practice Support Toolkit.

In the 2023-24 Federal Budget, the Government committed $79.4 million over four years from 2023-24 to 2026-27 to the PHN Commissioning of Multidisciplinary Teams initiative. This initiative, part of the broader Strengthening Medicare budget package, will strengthen the role PHNs play in commissioning multidisciplinary health care and extend PHNs’ role to providing practice support to private allied health, nursing, nurse practitioner (NP) and midwifery practices. To support successful rollout of this budget measure, the Government also agreed to fund the development of the PHN Allied Health Practice Support Toolkit.

Whilst PHNs have a well-established role in providing general practices with practice support, they have not been resourced to extend this to other primary health care professionals. Consistent with the recommendations of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report to support multidisciplinary team-based care, the objectives of the grant opportunity are to: 

• enhance PHNs’ support of allied health professionals working in the primary care system;
• reduce the time spent by allied health professionals on business administration and service integration, allowing them to spend more time on their clinical workload; and
• allow PHNs to build stronger relationships with allied health practices, leading to boosted overall system flexibility and capacity. 

The intended outcome of the grant opportunity is to design and implement the PHN Allied Health Practice Toolkit, to complement and inform the practice support activities undertaken by PHNs. The grant to the HNECC PHN is to design and implement the Toolkit and is expected to commence from December 2023.

To view the grant opportunity documents, please select the red Grant Opportunity Documents button on the left-hand side.

To be eligible you must be the listed organisation:

Organisation name: Hunter New England and Central Coast PHN

ABN: 51 604 341 362

HNECC PHN is the only organisation eligible for this grant opportunity as it:

• has been leading development and implementation of the National PHN Allied Health in Primary Care Engagement Framework, which has been endorsed by all PHNs and recommended the creation of the Toolkit;
• is a co-chair of the National Collaborative Forum of PHNs and Allied Health Peaks alongside the Australian Government Chief Allied Health Officer; and
• has established relationships with all PHNs and allied health peak bodies, therefore are best placed to lead the work in designing and implementing the Toolkit.

$230,000.00

This is a non-application-based process. The eligible organisation does not need to submit an application for this grant opportunity.

HNECC PHN is expected to submit reports in line with their standard reporting requirements through the PHN Program Electronic Reporting System (PPERS). The department will assess its suitability to receive a grant against all assessment criteria using the information and documentation identified in section 6 of the Grant Opportunity Guidelines.

HNECC PHN must submit its activity work plan in to PPERS between the published opening and closing dates.