Strategic Directions for Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District 2017 – 2020 sets a clear direction for the District with a strong focus on serving our community, planning for the future and engaging with our consumers. The Strategic Plan outlines the priorities and critical enablers that will support the ISLHD Board and our workforce to achieve our vision – Excellent services, quality partnerships, healthy communities and purpose – To provide best practice health care and programs that promote the health and wellbeing of people in the Illawarra Shoalhaven. 

• Our Strategy at a glance

COORDINARE and ISLHD are committed to developing the Illawarra Shoalhaven Integrated Care Strategy 2018-2020 that will enable all people living across the region to access health services that are provided in a way that responds to their life circumstances; are coordinated across the continuum of care, and are safe, high quality, accessible, timely and efficient.

COORDINARE and ISLHD have a history of collaborating on shared priority areas such as immunisation, mental health and chronic disease management. This strategy constitutes a commitment to developing new ways of working together that will engender a cultural shift, and promote clinical leadership that brings health care providers closer together to work on a number of key areas.

Four reports were published from the Aboriginal Chronic Disease Care Pathways Research Project which highlights Aboriginal perspectives on accessing healthcare, experiences of recent hospital stays, and local health and Aboriginal Chronic Disease Group Programs in the region.

In 2014 Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District commissioned the Aboriginal Chronic Disease Care Pathways Research Project; an Indigenous-led research project from the University of Wollongong. The project was finalised in 2017. 

The project objectives were:

• Describe chronic disease in the Aboriginal community in the Illawarra Shoalhaven
• Document formal chronic disease management models of care for Aboriginal people across NSW
• Explore the experiences of Aboriginal people living with chronic disease in the Illawarra Shoalhaven
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of current chronic disease management for Aboriginal people living in the region.
• Aboriginal Chronic Disease Care Pathways reports

Reports

• Aboriginal Chronic Disease Care Pathways - Summary Report
• Aboriginal Chronic Disease Care Pathways - Community Report
• Aboriginal Chronic Disease Care Pathways - Final Report
• Perspectives on Chronic Disease in the Australian Indigenous Population: A Review of the Literature

The plan provides a strategic framework based on:

• Three Directions: Keeping People Healthy, Providing World-Class Clinical Care and Delivering Truly Integrated Care, and
• Four Strategies: Supporting and Developing our Workforce, Supporting and Harnessing Research and Innovation, Enabling eHealth, and Designing and Building Future-Focused Infrastructure.

The Health Care Services Plan describes a vision for an integrated health system in the Illawarra Shoalhaven region which supports people to stay healthy in their homes and communities. 

The Health Care Services Plan is a 10-year roadmap for the delivery of the District’s vision: Excellent Services, quality partnerships, healthy communities.