Assessing & Addressing Community Health Needs

1
NEED ASSESSMENT OF DIFFERENT HEALTH SERVICES
PUBH6007 Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation
Student Name:
Student ID:

2
Option 1: Choosing a set of primary health care services
Introduction
Primary healthcare services include the healthcare workers that an individual comes into
contact with within the health system when facing a health issue or problem, which does not
include an emergency. It includes the part of the health system that people make the most use
of and includes general practitioners, pharmacists, physiotherapists, nurses and so on. The
acute shortage of nurses in Melbourne suburb and there is no NURSE-ON-CALL available in
telephone helplines. Nurses working in the community may provide health advice over
telephone helplines or directly. This current analysis of need assessment details the key issues
faced in the Melbourne suburb due to the shortage of nurses.
Key Issues
Key issues facing residents in the Melbourne suburb is the unavailability of nursing care.
Services provided by nurses in primary health care services include the promotion of good
health, in prevention of health problems by teaching, management of ongoing as well as long-
term conditions (McDonald et al, 2017). Relationship with the primary healthcare service
provider is considered to be crucial and often having an established ongoing relationship can
help feel confident. However, the Victorian government is facing an acute shortage of
nursing staff especially arising from changes in disease patterns and demographic changes as
the population ages and chronic illness grows. The shortage of trained nurses is preventing
the general wellness of the community.
When houses in rural Melbourne requiring primary health care services for attending to
aged patients or children calls for nurses then generally there is the long wait time.
Furthermore, often these wait times lead to disconnection of calls. These call helplines are

3
often not available during the night or weekends. This causes major challenges and people
from rural areas need to visit hospitals or city facilities to avail primary healthcare facilities.
For example, a child fell and had a cut on his arm. This primary health care could have been
provided by a nurse, who could have bandaged the child and provided first-aid, however in
absence of nurses, the child needed to be rushed at a city hospital or city primary healthcare
facility to be given first aid. This delay in providing first-aid caused increased risk of
infection and pain as well as suffering for the child. The presence of nurses could have
provided the online or over the telephone guidance to the child's parents regarding what first
aid needs to be given but that was also absent. Even in cases where patients are visiting GP or
other doctor's, nurses are absent. This is causing a major challenge for GPs and doctors to
attend to their patients and enhance their overall health outcomes. The need assessment is felt
in the absence of trained nurses within the suburb vicinity and especially lack their services in
times of need (Garg et al, 2017).
Australia's healthcare system ranks internationally which is shown in the high average life
expectancy with lower rates of infant mortality. However, such advances are now turning as
threats with the health system now being stretched by an aging population, increasing the
burden from chronic illness and outmoded health service organizations. There are prevalent
extreme inequalities in health prevalent between the suburban and city population. These
inequalities in health are mainly due to the lack of primary health care facilities present in
rural areas. These inequalities in health impact the most and least advantaged citizens present.
There is a problem with health workforce supply and distribution, which has also raised
concerns regarding the safety and quality of health services. Data reveals an acute shortage of
trained nurses in Melbourne city area as well hence there is no way in which the distribution
of primary health care services can be distributed or balanced. Halcomb et al, 2016 reports
and integrative literature regarding the competency standard of nurses in primary health care,