North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN) is releasing two tenders to improve social connectedness for people experiencing poor health outcomes.
The two tenders, each to the value of $500,000 over two years, are for responses in the Hume and Wyndham Local Government Areas.
The aim of the tenders is to support people experiencing loneliness and social isolation to improve connection with their community.
Loneliness and social isolation can pose as big a risk to life as well-established risk factors such as smoking and obesity. The recent Australian Loneliness Report identified that:
- One in four Australian adults are lonely
- Nearly 55 per cent of the population feel they lack companionship
- Lonely Australians have significantly worse health status (both physical and mental) than connected Australians
- Loneliness increases the likelihood of experiencing depression by 15.2 per cent
- Loneliness increases the likelihood of experiencing social interaction anxiety by 13.1 per cent
NWMPHN Deputy CEO Julie Borninkhof said that NWMPHN understands that social isolation can be detrimental to the health of community members in the catchment and is seeking to address that gap.
“As we start to understand the impact of loneliness and social isolation upon individuals across the community, the need to address this as both a health and social issue becomes clearer,” She said.
“These social connectedness trials offer an exciting opportunity to address a growing issue within the community.”
Providers are encouraged to consider applying for either the Hume or Wyndham regions and will be required to submit two applications if seeking to provide services across both areas.
Applicants are encouraged to identify populations they will seek to support and demonstrate how they will specifically cater for their needs.
Applicants are encouraged to submit innovative tenders and will need to register and apply through Tenderlink. Visit https://www.tenderlink.com/mpcn/
Printable version of the release.
Update – 12 February 2019
A tender briefing was held at NWMPHN on 7 February 2019. Please refer to the documents below for a summary of this briefing.
Social connectedness tender briefing – run sheet and FAQ
Social connectedness tender briefing – presentation
