Our mobile care design team work with local, State and Federal government, and local communities, to co-design mobile solutions for specialist needs or where existing services are not appropriate.

Access to health care is about more than distance from a local GP. Even if we have a GP in town, this may not always health care more accessible. Maybe it is a health services that we only need annually or at a regular interval (e.g. a cervical screen). At other times we may need services that better reflect our cultural and personal preferences (e.g. an Aboriginal health practitioner to provide care for Aboriginal people). There is also occasions when a GP may not provide a specific service that we need because they lack the qualifications or have a personal objection. In some cases, we may not want to go to the local health service because we don’t want to sit in the reception areas and have everyone ask what’s wrong. There are numerous reasons why, from time to time, we need to deliver health care in different ways to make it genuinely access to everyone and ensure health equity.

PROGRAMS

Health to Town
Mobile Health Clinics

Some health services are not needed every day (cervical screening, breast screening, dental care) or services that need to be provided by particular staff to ensure utilisation and acceptance (e.g. a woman doctor for cervical screenings or an Aboriginal Health Worker for FASD Screenings).

Mobile health services ensure communities have access to services that are appropriate, acceptable and reliable and which also reflect their needs or circumstances whether it is in the bush or a city.

The Foundation has expertise in the design, construction and delivery of bespoke mobile health care services that make access to appropriate and acceptable care as easy as a walk into town.

The Foundation currently delivers:

Mobile Fetal Alcohol Screening Service in western NSW through a partnership with the University of Sydney.
Mobile Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Clinic through a partnership with NSW Communities and Justice to provide access to confidential health care for women and girls.

The Foundation has delivered a bespoke Mobile Foster Children and Carers Health Service with NSW Communities and Justice on an ad hoc basis, and is in discussions about how this service could be provided permanently to vulnerable children and families in rural and remote NSW.

Town to Health
Community Bus Services

Access to reliable, affordable and safe public transport is essential for communities to enable them to purchase affordable food, reduce social isolation by visiting friends and families and getting to an appointment with a specialist or out-patient service.

It is also essential for peace of mind. Imagine getting a diagnosis of diabetes, knowing you have to attend a regional hospital every week for dialysis but you don’t have the means to get there.

Having a community transport service is however only the first step. If the community transport service only goes to a regional city in Thursdays, and the hospital only provides dialysis on Fridays, then having access to community transport does not improve access to health and social care.

Working with community transport funders, and engaging closely with communities, the Foundation is able to deliver solutions to ensure joined-up transportation and health care solutions that deliver equity to rural, remote and disadvantaged communities.

For more information about how we are improving the integrated delivery of transport, health and social care visit our Collarenebri Hub site.