Rural community-centred co-planning for sustainable rural health systems

Area of Science:

• Rural Health
• Health Systems Research
• Community-Based Participatory Research

Background:

• Sustaining rural healthcare services faces systemic challenges.
• Rural communities offer valuable insights for designing sustainable health models.
• Evidence for effective co-design in rural health requires further development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To co-design place-based, evidence-informed rural health models.
• To enhance the sustainability of local health systems.
• To guide the implementation of effective co-design strategies.

Main Methods:

• Employed community-based participatory action research with co-design and systems thinking.
• Conducted qualitative interviews with healthcare professionals (n=44) and consumers/carers (n=21).
• Utilized an online survey for feedback (professionals n=11, consumers/carers n=7) and mixed-methods analysis (QUAL-quant).

Main Results:

• Identified key healthcare priorities, strengths, and challenges in a rural Victorian region (Modified Monash Model 5).
• Developed a rural health system sustainability strategy with three pillars: workforce strengthening, integrated health services, and innovative models of care.
• Generated locally relevant health models tailored to community strengths and resources.

Conclusions:

• Community-centered co-design is effective for developing sustainable rural health models.
• The co-design process yielded locally tailored ideas and potential health models.
• Findings provide a foundation for future rural health planning, implementation, and evaluation.