Would your practice benefit from:
- A care coordinator, social worker and mental health clinician on site one day per week to support your patients?
- Extra funding to better support patients with chronic conditions and mental ill health?
- Support from North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN) to build practice capability?
Brimbank general practices caring for patients with complex chronic and mental health needs will soon have the chance to apply for an exciting, funded opportunity.
In March, NWMPHN will seek to commission nine practices to deliver the Health Care Neighbourhood Project.
The opportunity is only open to accredited general practices in the Brimbank local government area (LGA).
Participating clinics will be linked with a ‘neighbourhood care team’ – comprising a mental health clinician, care coordinator and social worker – which will work at the practice at least one day per week.
This team will support GPs and practice staff to assess, coordinate and manage complex chronic and mental health care.
The model is designed to build practice capability, not create a new service or replace routine GP care.
Requirements for the project will be streamlined, with support for administration, reporting and coordination of the multidisciplinary team built into the model so participation does not unreasonably burden practice teams.
NWMPHN is deploying a similar service model in Hume and Melton focused on patients with chronic conditions, however the Brimbank model will be expanded to include patients with severe and complex mental illness.
Long term, it is hoped that participating practices and clinicians develop capability, and sustain the model of care beyond the project’s life cycle.
How to prepare your practice to apply for this funding
An advance notice, including the total funding amount for practices, is expected to be released in early March 2026. An official approach to market process will follow soon after.
Practices can begin preparing response documentation and registering for Tenderlink, which NWMPHN will use as the application portal for this opportunity. Click here to see our step-by-step guide on how to register for Tenderlink. Make sure you are subscribed to NWMPHN’s newsletters to receive all upcoming news.
NWMPHN will also be individually contacting Brimbank general practices by phone at a later date, providing information on timelines and upcoming market briefings.
A separate market approach for the neighbourhood care team will likely commence mid- to late-March.
NWMPHN will commission this project with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
The Health Care Neighbourhood Project is part of its Strengthening Medicare reforms, with primary health networks across the country building multidisciplinary care teams to improve integration, access and continuity, especially for chronic disease and underserviced populations.
