SCHS receives $1.4 million Commonwealth funding to advance community paramedic model, CP@clinic

Sunraysia Community Health Services (SCHS) is pleased to announce that our Community Paramedic Model (CP@clinic) project has secured $1.4 million in funding across 4 years through the Commonwealth’s Innovative Models of Care Program.

The announcement of the funding was made by the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, in support of trialling new ways of delivering multidisciplinary primary care in rural and remote communities.

“The Albanese Government is investing in rural and remote primary health care so people across Australia can access a better range of health services. Patient care, and specifically rural and remote patient care, is most effective when managed within place-based, multidisciplinary models of care.” stated Minister Butler.

In partnership with La Trobe University, McMaster University (Canada), Primary Care Connect (Shepparton), Gateway Health (Wodonga) and Northern Districts Community Health (Kerang) the funding will support the implementation, upscale and evaluation of CP@clinic across Victoria.

Ranked against the 79 local government areas across Victoria, these communities experience greater socioeconomic disadvantage. 45-50% of adults across these locations have at least one chronic health condition (Vic average 39%). All experience healthcare workforce shortages, resulting in poorer outcomes including high rates of preventable hospitalisation and morbidity. In Canada, CP@clinic has reduced ambulance call-out rates by up to 25%.

SCHS in collaboration with La Trobe University and McMaster University first piloted CP@clinic in August 2022. This was the first international adaptation of the Canadian CP@clinic, developed by McMaster University.

CP@clinic provides free drop-in community clinics led by paramedics, who undertake chronic disease screening, health education and onward referral using a structured protocol and purpose-built database. The model improves access to care, increases quality of life and reduces some of the pressure on the acute care system.

Darren Midgley, SCHS CEO is enthusiastic about the projects potential impact.

“We look forward to initiating this research project, it provides an opportunity to advance health equity through the expansion of CP@clinic in rural and regional communities across Victoria.” stated Mr Midgley

Dr. Agarwal, Professor of Family Medicine at McMaster University and her team have led the development and evaluation of the Community Paramedicine at Clinic Program, which has expanded across Canada. Dr. Agarwal will support the implementation and evaluation of this project in collaboration with local partner, La Trobe University, by providing all the elements of the out-of-the-box CP@clinic program, including the SMART database, the customised training program, participant materials, research expertise, evaluation matrices and ongoing implementation coaching.

Dr Agarwal plans to visit the implementation sites across Victoria in support of this research project.

“Our CP@clinic Program is the only robustly researched community paramedicine wellness clinic. In our national Canadian scale up, we saw similar outcomes as in the large community trial, and we anticipate that the impact in Australia will be significant, improving health and quality of life and reducing emergency calls and social isolation.” said Dr Agarwal.