A new interactive tool is providing important data to help analyse and improve the health and wellbeing of Queenslanders.
The population health dashboard is supporting health services to make decisions that will see relevant resources delivering services that are truly supportive of local communities.
Developed by Children’s Health Queensland (CHQ), the dashboard assists with population-based responsive planning to design integrated service models where health care can be delivered alongside other services outside of health, including education, child protection, housing and youth justice.
Yarrabilba Family & Community Place in Logan is an example of a local service which was designed based on the dashboard, with data used to inform the service model design.
Program Lead of Strategic Partnerships at QCH, Nicola Callard, said the service was developed specifically from the data from the population dashboard to provide services and programs that match what the unique and specific needs of that community are.
“The Yarrabilba community was identified as an area of priority growth, so Children's Health Queensland partnered with a range of other organisations to build the Yarrabilba Family and Community Place in response to the data,” Nicola said.
“By looking at the data in this way, it ensures that we can allocate resources in a meaningful way so that communities get what they need and the level of support that they need.
“By taking this perspective, it allows us to be proactive in terms of planning and investing in preventative healthcare and intervening early so that we can keep kids out of hospital, support them best in their local community and deliver care closer to home.
“By collecting this data and integrating it in one place, we can get a really holistic view of what life is like for kids and young people across the state.”
Nicola said the dashboard is providing a different model of care to a traditional healthcare model where a hospital or community health clinic will have to wait for a family to self-identify their need for a service.
“Yarrabilba Family Community Place is all about us meeting the community where they're at, being guided by the data in the population health dashboard as well as the stories that we are seeing and hearing from the community themselves.”
Yarrabilba local, Imogen, said the new service is supporting her family to attend health appointments closer to home.
“You get to do all your appointments and then go home and you don't have to leave Yarrabilba; it’s here and that's how it should be. It should be accessible to everyone,” Imogen said.
“There's no rush, you can just come in and use it between these times and what works for your schedule.
“Even immunizations on a Wednesday that you don't have to book into a doctor for and you can see the nurse afterwards with the baby. It's amazing. It's not just for myself, but for my kids.
“It's setting that foundation for my family and my kids and the knowledge moving forward for them and their kids, and I know that this place is essential for that.”
CHQ has partnered with a national collaborative to take the learnings from the population health dashboard to the next level through developing the Australian Child and Youth Wellbeing Atlas.
Launched in 2023, the Atlas will better understand the inequities and improve the wellbeing, health and learning of children and young people at a national scale.