LAST week’s edition of our special health report highlighted the dire state of our region’s rising mental health crisis.
Today we look at an array of socio-economic barriers that continue to fuel this crisis and at the state of our generalised health outcomes.
West Moreton Health’s Interim CEO Hannah Bloch said the LANA Report found that more than one-third of people across our region were experiencing socio-economic disadvantage.
“This is not a glossy sanitized report, it’s very real and it outlines some real challenges for us,” Ms Bloch said.
“We found social isolation, particularly post COVID, is a significant issue for our region’s rural communities.”
Findings from the LANA Report show 34 per cent of our region is considered significantly disadvantaged, with high rates of unemployment, poverty, low household incomes and the costs of health services all proving major barriers to better health outcomes for communities.
Across Esk, Riverview, Gatton, Bundamba and the Lockyer Valley East, our communities are being hamstrung by these socio-economic barriers in comparison with the rest of Queensland.
These bleak employment and income figures are exacerbating the region’s health problems, with the costs of health services cited by the LANA Report as a major barrier for people across our region when needing to access healthcare, and better health outcomes.
Chair of the West Morton Health board, Michael Willis, said the overarching aim of the LANA Report and WMH is to keep people out of hospitals wherever possible.
Our virtual program provides specialised support for people with challenging health issues and allows consumers to receive care in their own home.
“That means partnering with other local agencies in health prevention, to keep people well,” Mr Willis said.
“Our region has a far greater than normal level of socioeconomic disadvantage, far bigger than our neighbours to our East in Brisbane.”
NO MONEY FOR CARE
In fact, this disadvantage is so dire that the LANA Report found people were pitting the costs involved in healthcare outcomes, such as preventative activities, obtaining medications or accessing appointments against other needs due to financial constraints.
Director Preventative and Prison Health Services, Therese Hayes said WMH is leading the way in reducing these socio-economic barriers through virtual and telehealth pathways.
“Our virtual program provides specialised support for people with challenging health issues and allows consumers to receive care in their own home,” Ms Hayes said.
Currently, however, these socio-economic barriers are effectively creating a vicious cycle for our vulnerable communities whereby there are less opportunities for healthier foods, runaway obesity
rates and an increasingly limited focus on preventative healthcare measures resulting in poor health literacy across the region.
Unsurprisingly, the LANA Report found this vicious cycle typically occurs in lower socioeconomic areas and creates greater risks of poor health outcomes and shorter lifespans.
Ms Hayes said that WMH will continue improving health promotion and disease prevention across communities through collaborative efforts.
“We collaborate with our health partners, including consumers, carers and the community to co-design our services,” Ms Hayes said.
“This collaborative effort focuses on identifying things that our community can do to prevent ill-health and aims to reduce the number of presentations at emergency departments.
Director Preventative and Prison Health Services, Therese Hayes.
“Ultimately, engaging with the community to provide education and support to enable people to live healthier lifestyles will see a reduction in the obesity rate in our region.”
NEED TO EMBRACE HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
Ms Hayes said people can also help to alleviate health problems through lifestyles changes.
“WMH encourages people to lead their own health journey by undertaking a healthy lifestyle,” she said.
“This includes making healthy food choices, reducing sugar and alcohol intake, and increasing exercise levels.
“We also encourage community members to be involved in the direction of the health service and two advisory councils focused on healthy lifestyles have been established at West Moreton Health to give community members a seat at the decision-making table.” With these major challenges ahead, Ms Hayes said
WMH is also continually looking at providing ways to alleviate the socio-economic barriers to healthcare.
“West Moreton Health is working with the Darling Downs and West Moreton Primary Health Network to identify opportunities for GPs to advertise bulk-billing practices for those who may not otherwise be able to afford primary health care,” she said.
“We are also working with our health partners to increase the general health literacy of our community and to link vulnerable consumers with appropriate service providers to address factors such as housing, food affordability and transport.”
