NCMPCP will build on the ongoing work of member agencies in addressing integrated chronic disease management. NCMPCP aims to ‘add value’ to the work of agencies in improving the experience of people with chronic illness using the health system. NCMPCP aims to support agencies in their development of responses to clients with chronic illness including care planning and workforce development. NCMPCP also supports the implementation of ‘Community Health – doing it better’.

NCMPCP is pleased to advise that we have appointed Marie Gill from Gill and Willcox as our Integrated Chronic Disease Consultant. Marie will work closely with member agencies to continue the development of responses to clients with chronic disease. Specifically Marie will:

• Devise and implement a process for the audit of self management interventions operating within the NCMPCP catchment and provide a written report
• Propose a staged plan for consultation with catchment private practitioners about referral pathways, care planning and expectations when referring to community health settings in consultation with the Northern Division of General Practice,
• Assist Darebin Community Health in the establishment and delivery of an integrated chronic illness model
• Devise and implement a year 1 response to the implementation plan in Community Health Chronic illness Response Report.
• Devise and implement a communication strategy to inform stakeholder’s catchment wide about the Integrated Chronic Disease project progress.
• Report to an Integrated Chronic Disease Management Steering Group on project progress.

Kath O’Donnell
NCMPCP Executive Officer
Phone: 9480 3044
Fax: 9480 6399
Mobile: 0417 122 997
Days of work - Weds, Thurs and Friday

Marie Gill
Gill and Willcox
Phone: (03) 9533-5369
Mobile:0419 953 030
Email: marie@gillandwillcox.com.au

Written by Joanne E Jordan and Richard H Osborne.

ABSTRACT
• Chronic disease self-management education programs aim
to empower patients through providing information and
teaching skills and techniques to improve self-care and
doctor–patient interaction, with the ultimate goal of
improving quality of life.
• The recent 2006–07 federal budget allocated an
unprecedented $515 million over 5 years for activation of
patient self-management activities, commencing this financial
year.
• Previous attempts in other countries to incorporate selfmanagement
education activities into the health care sector
have faced setbacks because of inadequate integration into
primary care.
• Engagement of health care professionals and their
endorsement of self-management activities is critical to success.
MJA 2006; 185: 1–4

In February 2006 the Australian Institute for Primary Care (AIPC) at La Trobe University was engaged by DHS to develop a generic evaluation framework for use within the EIiCD initiative according to an agreed list of evaluation questions. At that time, the nine selected community health services were in various stages of developing individual programs in conjunction with other partners (such as the local Division of General Practice (DGP) and Primary Care Partnership (PCP)). This report provides an overview of the individual programs established under the initiative, the refinement of the evaluation questions and program logic, the development of the evaluation framework and the subsequent consultation process undertaken, as well as detailing the proposed final evaluation tools for use as an ongoing component of the EIiCD initiative.