There is a huge development in healthcare delivery happening in our community that takes effect from 1st July.
This is the new Medicare Locals and the Local Health & Hospital Networks.
The Grove is part of the huge region covered by Metro North. This region stretches from about Kilcoy down to the Brisbane River out to Moggill and includes Bribie Island.
Currently it contains about 900000 residents in a region of 4167 square kilometres (The Grove is 30 square kilometres). 73% of residents in this region are above the national socioeconomic average but there are pockets of disadvantage.
However in the next 24 years an increase of 30% in population is expected. That is an extra 241878 people living in the Metro North region. 43% of this population growth is expected to be aged 65 or over.
It will simply not be possible for the health system as we know it to cope with this population growth. It would need an extra 500-bed hospital to be built in the Metro North region every decade to keep up with the demand in need from diabetes and chronic kidney disease alone.
15 people are diagnosed with diabetes every daty. 1 in 3 are at risk of chronic kidney disease. 1 in 7 have chronic kidney disease and 1 in 12 have advanced chronic kidney disease.
On Saturday Queensland Health’s Primary and Community Health Services team held a big community consultation to plan our region’s health: “Talking about Health in my Community”.
100 residents were selected to be part of this very structured process of citizen deliberation. It is part of an Australian Research Grant project coordinated by Curtin University (in WA).