Public Health Planning Advisory Service
Project Overview
The Public Health Act 2016 is a primary piece of legislation for local governments and requires them to be responsible for a range of obligations and general public health duties in their local community. The transition of the Public Health Act 2016 was a five stage process, with Public Health Plans being captured in stage five, the most significant stage for local governments. PHAIWA has long been instrumental in engaging with local government for a variety of reasons, Public Health Planning being one of those.
PHAIWA identified that very few local governments in WA have completed and adopted a Public Health Plan and recognise that local government are vital to the success of many broader strategies such as the Healthway Strategic Plan, Sustainable Health Review and the Health Promotion Strategic Framework. As a result PHAIWA will provide support for local governments in their policy development and internal engagement through the Public Health Planning process. This will be achieved by providing a Public Health Advisory Service that will comprise of advice, support, stakeholder connections and partnerships, mentoring and workshops that focus on the regional local governments.
PHAIWA also has a Public Health Planning Guide which can be downloaded here.
Public Health Planning Case Studies
PHAIWA, in conjunction with four local governments who have formally adopted Public Health Plans, have produced a series of case studies on the process and journey they took developing them for other local governments to use.
These case studies are to assist local governments understand the process others have gone through to develop their Public Health Plans. The intended use of the case studies is for within the local government space, for officers to help build the capacity, understanding and support within their own council/shire leadership teams and elected members to assist them in commencing work on their own PHP. We have included a range of different size and type of local governments in the case studies to find a fit for all others when using the case studies.
Each study follows a story like approach asking the why behind the plan, how they went about developing their plan, the outcomes to date due to the plan deliverables, challenges and barriers faced throughout the process, of course the impact of COVID-19 and finally their key lessons and words of wisdom.
The case studies are funded by Healthway and PHAIWA would like to thank the City of Vincent, Shire of Mundaring, Shire of Augusta-Margaret River and City of Mandurah for their input and stories.
For further information please contact PHAI at phaiwa@curtin.edu.au.
This project is funded by Healthway.