Services settle in to Peel Health Hub and start planning for the future

Dedicated to offering a unique and collaborative model of care for youth in the Peel region, the $9.2 million facility was opened by health minister Roger Cook on December 12.

The state-of-the-art facility took more than three years of planning, consultation from a variety of stakeholders and state and federal government funding.

Now a one stop shop for the health needs of young people across Mandurah, the building is home to Peel Youth Medical Service, GP Down South, headspace Mandurah, Youth Focus, Palmerston Association, Allambee and Jobs South West.

They will also welcome the Department of Child and Adolescent Health Services later this year.

GP Down South outreach team program manager Paul Reilly said they had already noticed an increase in walk-in activity.

"It's going really well considering we've only been open a couple of months," he said.

"People are able to walk straight in from the street and it's good that people feel comfortable enough to do that.

"Most of the services in the building are experiencing more activity because the building has a high profile and has done from the get go."

Mr Reilly said the Hub focused on being a welcoming "first port of call".

"We try to keep the journey for the individual as painless as possible," he said.

"We pass the information on to another service so they already have it and don't have to ask the questions again and they can start the recovery process.

"We're minimising the amount of double and triple-handling so people don't have to ask the same questions again and again."

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GP Down South Mandurah manager Eleanor Britton said, while they are still getting used to their new home, many of the organisations are already starting to look to the future.

Ms Britton said they hoped to work together to create a dedicated care coordination team to assist with communications between the nine organisations.

"Care coordination is our intent and what we're all working towards for everyone to have their clear role, but just to get that extra resource which would be a shared resource across nine organisations," she said.

"It's actually an incredibly efficient way of providing that resource and if we can get that resource, that would be the icing on the cake to achieve that model of care.

"The care coordination team is going to be the long-term glue that holds the whole model of care together. Short-term we can do it and we are doing it, but long-term we need to make that sustainable."

Mr Reilly said it had become evident to everyone that a care coordination team would be the next step in order to provide the best possible care to the young people who need it.

"It's quite clear we need that now because of the scale of the work in this building - we need that dedicated clinical time to devote to that work," he said.

"That's so we can make sure once people have come into the building, that they're not falling through the cracks or getting lost but followed through with."

GP Down South are also focused on increasing their staff at the Hub, especially youth-friendly doctors.

"It is key that we get the right GPs," Ms Britton said.

"It's important to build that trusting relationship - our GPs are GPs with a special interest in youth, mental health, drugs and alcohol and all the social aspects that affect young people today."

Mr Reilly said he looked forward to the challenges and rewards of working with the youth in Mandurah.

"It's exciting but it's challenging," he said.

"There are a lot of social issues impacting young people's health, economic issues like unemployment and housing affordability is a massive issue.

"You have the opportunity for early intervention and to shape change and work with the individuals to change things."

For more information about the Peel Health Hub, visit the GP Down South website, call 9583 5435 or drop by the Hub at 91 Allnutt Street, Mandurah.