Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN and West Moreton Health have launched ‘Feel Well Live Well’ — a joint health strategy to support older people to live healthier and better-connected lives in their place of choice.

The West Moreton region is fast-growing and rapidly ageing. By 2026, the general population is forecast to grow by 30 per cent (to 419,000 people), while the portion of people aged 65 and older is expected to increase by 50 per cent (to more than 60,000 people).

West Moreton and Darling Downs CEO, Lucille Chalmers, said this strategy would help guide the PHN and West Moreton Health to meet the growing needs of the region.

“Our joint approach is focused around improving the connections between primary and secondary health care to ensure older people can access the services they need,” Ms Chalmers said.

The strategy is built upon targeted actions that will help connect primary care and hospitals to better meet the specific needs of older people.

“The actions in this strategy were developed in alignment with our data, and in-depth consultation with community members, families and carers, health professionals, and local collaboratives,” Ms Chalmers said.

Feel Well Live Well takes an innovative approach to system improvement, such as increasing hospital in the home services to enable older people to access medical, nursing, allied health, and rehabilitation services in their place of residence.

West Moreton Health Interim Chief Executive Hannah Bloch thanked everyone who contributed to the strategy’s development for their expertise and engagement, especially the teams delivering care to older people in the region.

“Health care is best delivered in partnership with others – it’s how we achieve holistic care that wraps around the individual needs of people and their support network,” Ms Bloch said.

“We have a clear action plan for the next four years to implement system-wide improvements, such as the development of a single screening and assessment toolkit to ensure consistency across community, primary and secondary health services; and co-designing models of care that respond to identified service gaps.

Feel Well Live Well was launched to key stakeholders and community representatives on Friday, 21 October 2022 at The Ipswich Club and is now under implementation.