Powerful Collaborative Partnerships

Introduction from Powerful Collaborative Partnerships

For 21 years the staff and Board of the Inner East PCP, and the staff and Executive Committee of the Outer East PCP, have been in a unique and innovative position through the funding we have received from the Victorian government to lead and facilitate positive change and build cross-sectoral partnerships in Melbourne’s Eastern Metropolitan Region. These partnerships have improved population health and wellbeing; built healthy environments; reduced inequality; and expanded social inclusion, through shared actions and strategies, harnessing resources, and supporting capacity-building, structural change and advocacy.

Collaborations with dedicated, like-minded health and community orientated professionals have facilitated the development and delivery of local solutions to complex interconnected health issues in ways that are exciting, rewarding and satisfying in their joint achievement.

These partnerships have been driven by the collective core beliefs of supporting human rights; that investing in primary prevention is preferable in responding to increasing health challenges, and, that improvements are best achieved through multi-sectoral collaboration.

Primary Care Partnerships provide an ideal platform to achieve these goals. Our work tackles numerous health and wellbeing issues that address local gaps in the health system or emerging population needs. Our high value functions include the:

• Capability and capacity to mobilise place-based primary prevention initiatives and provide backbone-like functions to support partnerships to achieve collective impact.
• Capability and capacity to mobilise local responses to unforeseeable events and time-critical responses.
• Delivery of localised workforce capability building to meet our partners’ needs.

The work undertaken by the PCPs has been diverse. On the following pages we are very proud to showcase a selection of the ground breaking and successful partnership efforts undertaken by the Inner East PCP and Outer East PCP, both separately and together. These celebrate many achievements over the lifetime of our PCPs, that we have been delighted to participate in. Please enjoy these short descriptive vignettes and visit the links to learn more about these partnership projects.

We were delighted to partner as PCPs in the development of this keepsake. We acknowledge and send a big thank you to Alex Mills, our consultant, and all of the key contributors to the history and content of these vignettes.

We also thank the Executive Officers that have led the Primary Care Partnerships ahead of us and who have made their indelible mark on these partnerships and their collaborative efforts across the Eastern Metropolitan Region. We have been privileged to continue on from these foundations. We especially celebrate the long-term valued and valuable leadership of Jacky Close as Executive Officer of the OEPCP for more than 15 years.

With fond memory, the IEPCP acknowledges the significant leadership of Christopher Foley-Jones, in advancing service coordination. Christoph’s passion for improving the health and wellbeing of our local communities lives on through his significant contributions to our service sector and PCP partner agencies.

Tracey Blythe
Executive Officer IEPCP

Sarah Kleinitz
Manager OEPCP

Document: Powerful Collaborative Partnerships