Maternal and Child Health Strategy: Murrumbidgee PHN
Status: Completed March 2019
Client: Murrumbidgee PHN
Background
In late 2018, Murrumbidgee PHN (MPHN) released a Request for Proposal for an organisation to develop a Maternal and Child Health Strategy in response to identifying disparities and issues within maternal and child health across the region. Beacon Strategies were successful in the tender process and we have worked collaboratively with MPHN over the past year to develop the strategy.
Upon completion, the Maternal and Child Health Strategy provides a targeted regional plan for the Murrumbidgee region, which guides the Murrumbidgee PHN, the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) and other key stakeholders to deliver services that systematically meet the needs of women in the pre and postnatal period, children and their families.
The strategy focuses on the critical child development milestones including the first 2000 days and supports culturally safe services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
Approach
The purpose of the Maternal and Child Health Strategy was to develop a sector agreed regional approach to improve maternal and child health for women, children and families within the MPHN region. The specific objectives of the project were to:
Identify the needs of prenatal and postnatal women and children (through population health data analysis and scanning of available resources)
Identify the availability of services and support for women and children, including barriers to access (through service mapping)
Identify existing referral pathways within the context of consumer experience (client pathway mapping)
Engage with broad stakeholders regarding issue identification and solution development
Identify strategic priorities and solutions to address the needs of women, children and families (the strategic plan)