Executive General Manager's foreword

As we reflect on WA Mental Health Week, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the important role our commissioned service providers play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of people in Western Australia.

This year’s theme, Where we live. How we live. What we've lived, reminds us of the deep connection between our environments, experiences, and mental health. It also reinforces the importance of addressing the social determinants of health. 

WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) remains committed to improved access to care and outcomes of care provided through our commissioning approach and partnerships across the state.

Mental Health is the largest of the program areas that WAPHA receives funding from the Australian Government, accounting for more than 50 per cent of all funding.

I want to particularly thank all providers of mental health services across West Australia – whether this be through provision of headspace services, Medicare Mental Health Centres, Integrated Primary Mental Health Care in our country regions, our various digital mental health services, Indigenous mental health services, Youth Enhanced Services, and numerous others in metro, rural and remote locations. Your work is making a big difference in the lives of your community – your attention to detail, quality and person-centred care is at the heart of what you do day in day out and is greatly appreciated.

As we look ahead our focus remains on equity, ensuring that people in under-served communities have access to the health care they need, when and where they need it.

Kind regards,

Mark Cockayne

Executive General Manager – Commissioned Services

General information

PHN Commissioning Innovation Showcase 2025

Staff from WAPHA recently attended the PHN Commissioning Innovation Showcase in Newcastle. This annual event enables PHNs from across the country to come together to learn and share their commissioning experiences.

WAPHA's Regional Integration Manager - Kimberley, Rebecca Morgan, and Stakeholder Engagement Officer - Cultural Safety, Kerry Saunders, presented Distinct lands and diverse cultures - one goal better health together. 

This presentation discussed the cultural complexities, cultural strengths and importance of the regional integration manager’s role navigating this space in the Kimberley region. Rebecca’s presentation included three short reels sharing Kimberley voices highlighting the importance of culture - our Mabu Liyan, health on Country and the importance of investing in Aboriginal health practitioners in the GP space.

Kerry spoke about WAPHA’s Innovate RAP and Aboriginal Cultural Competency Framework and how these are not standalone documents but interwoven strategic documents that guide how WAPHA listens, learns, and acts in partnership with Aboriginal communities. Kerry also highlighted how together they form a strategic blueprint for delivering better health outcomes across WA's diverse Aboriginal lands.

WA Primary Health Alliance Service Provider Panel meeting 

The August Service Provider Panel meeting centred around the topic of WAPHA’s needs assessments and insights-led commissioning. Panel members were provided with a deeper understanding of the methodologies and data sources, highlighting the importance of integrating both quantitative and qualitative insights to inform evidence-based health service commissioning across WA.

Read the session summary

headspace Kalgoorlie celebrates 10 years 

Happy 10th birthday to headspace Kalgoorlie! Last Friday, WAPHA contract manager Sam Rapp joined the celebrations. WAPHA is proud to be commissioning headspace services across WA to support youth mental health.

Tracey Brand - CEO Hope Community Services, Ali Kent - MLA Member for Kalgoorlie, Samantha Rapp – Contract Manager WAPHA, Tricia Murray AM - Board Chair Hope Community Services and Natalie Smart – headspace Kalgoorlie Centre Manager.

Psychological treatment resources 

In response to requests from Integrated Primary Mental Health Clinics (IPMHC) in the WA Country PHN, WAPHA has engaged Professor Peter McEvoy from the School of Psychology and enAble Institute at Curtin University to lead the development of a library of manualised psychological treatment resources. These are being developed with input from IPMHC practitioners, supporting the provision of high-quality care across the region.

Manualised psychological treatments enable the consistent delivery of evidence-based care. They allow providers to follow best practice, and clients know what best practice looks like and what to expect from services when they provide it.

The initial focus of the library includes transdiagnostic approaches for anxiety and depression, as well as targeted courses for parenting skills training, sleep, emotion regulation, anger management, social anxiety, and low self-esteem. Work on the first four is currently underway. Each treatment course will include a therapist manual, practice-point demonstration/training videos, client workbooks, handouts, and client information sheets and videos.

Our intention is to make access to these resources free and openly available.

Supporting better health in rural and remote WA

The Rural and Remote Health Outcomes Monitoring Platform (RHOMP) is connecting health service data across rural and remote WA to help improve care. By linking data and listening to community voices, RHOMP will help close service gaps, strengthen coordination, and design care around what matters most. Community members and service providers are invited to share experiences and insights to guide this work.

RHOMP is a collaboration between Curtin University, WA Country Health Service, WA Primary Health Alliance, St John WA, Royal Flying Doctor Service, and Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Service.

To learn more or get involved, email RHOMP@curtin.edu.au.

Modern Slavery Training Program

Australian Red Cross and SBS have launched a new online training program designed to build capability within organisations to recognise and respond to modern slavery. It is informed and inspired by the experience and resilience of survivors and draws on the perspectives of leading experts and practitioners.

Explore the Modern Slavery Training Program

What do changes to chronic conditions management mean for allied health providers, Aboriginal health workers, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners?

From 1 July 2025, chronic disease management referrals and care requirements were replaced by new GP Chronic Conditions Management Plans (GPCCMPs). Allied health providers and Aboriginal Health Workers, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners may notice some changes to referrals from general practices. These changes provide greater flexibility for patients to choose which services they access. There are no changes to individual allied health items for treating chronic conditions, but referral requirements have been simplified:

• The number of allied health services under a GPCCMP does not need to be specified by the referring GP (GPs may still specify this on referral letters).
• The allied health provider does not need to be named.
• Team care arrangements are no longer needed.

Allied health tips to plan service delivery with patients referred for chronic conditions management:

• If the patient has private health cover, explore options to claim through their private health insurer rather than Medicare. This will allow the patient to use their Medicare GPCCMP referrals with other allied health services if they wish to do so.
• Discuss the patients’ priorities and explore how many of their five MBS allied health services a patient would like to use with your allied health service.
• Contact their general practice to confirm which individual allied health services for chronic conditions are included in the patient’s management plan. 
• Explore how your service can coordinate with the primary care team, including case conferencing, and group allied health services for people with type 2 diabetes.
• Have the patient use their MyGov app to review and confirm their claims history for allied health MBS services to check the number of allied health MBS items claimed in the calendar year.
• Check MBS item eligibility and history for your patient using Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) and Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Online.
• Use My Health Record to view the patient’s medical history, services, and identify other members of their care team to coordinate with. You can access My Health Record through the National Provider Portal or using your practice software if it is a Conformant Clinical Information System (CIS).

My Health Record share by default: Better and faster access to health information 

Better Access

Under new legislation, healthcare providers will soon be required to upload written pathology and diagnostic imaging reports to My Health Record. This change ensures that key health information is more consistently available to support informed clinical decisions, reduce unnecessary duplicate testing, and enable more coordinated care across different healthcare settings. 

Faster Access

The Faster Access initiative will reduce the time people wait to see their results, empowering Australians to take a more active role in managing their health.

• From mid-October 2025, people will be able to view most of their pathology reports as soon as they are uploaded to My Health Record. Certain tests, including anatomical pathology, cytopathology, and genetic tests, will be viewable after a five-day delay, reduced from the previous seven-day delay.
• From February 2026, people will be able to view x-ray reports for their limbs immediately after upload to My Health Record. They will be able to view other imaging reports 5 days after they are uploaded (such as reports for CT, MRI and PET scans, ultrasounds, as well as x-rays of the head, chest, abdomen and pelvis).

If access to a result is delayed this is nothing to do with the result – it’s just that some types of tests won’t be accessible for five days. Health care providers will continue to have access to all reports as soon as they are added to a person’s My Health Record.

Getting ready - providers

• Be aware of the Sharing by Default requirements and the types of written reports that will be uploaded.
• Check My Health Record for recent results before ordering new tests to avoid unnecessary duplication.
• Talk with your patients about access to their results in My Health Record and share the fact sheet with them, if they need more information.
• Consider opportunities to partner with your patients as active participants in monitoring their health, particularly when they are living with a chronic condition.
• Continue to follow your organisation’s internal workflows for critical results management, noting that My Health Record does not replace your existing processes for urgent follow-up.

Download the Better and Faster access guide for requesting providers

For more information, visit digitalhealth.gov.au or email help@digitalhealth.gov.au.

Digital health adviser opportunity 

The Australian Digital Health Agency is seeking to recruit digital health advisers (DHAs) to ensure diverse clinical perspectives inform the design and delivery of national digital health initiatives.

The ideal candidates will be experienced clinicians or informaticians with a strong interest in digital health, who are keen to contribute their insights and lived experience to help shape the future of healthcare in Australia.

The DHA role offers:

• Opportunities to engage directly with Agency representatives and other DHAs.
• A platform to provide input into key Agency initiatives, products and strategy development.
• A collaborative space to share expertise as well as influence and contribute to national digital health priorities.

The tender for DHA recruitment is now live and interested parties can apply here - AusTender RFT12493. Any questions specific to the tender including clarification on services requirements, should be directed in writing to TenderResponses@digitalhealth.gov.au by the Deadline for Submission of Tenderers’ Questions.

Procurement and contracting

Public Health and Chronic Disease Program: Long-acting reversible contraception centres of excellence grant 

The Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing announced the long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) centres of excellence (CoE) grant opportunity as part of the 2025-26 Budget.

This state-wide activity will help address the significant gap in the number of health professionals trained in LARC services by providing additional training opportunities to increase skill, capability and confidence in performing LARC services, and provide services to the community for patients wanting a LARC inserted or removed and will be a referral point for providers not trained or confident in delivering these services.

Training and events

Resources