Promoting health and preventing disease

Increasing cancer screening rates to save lives

Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN has identified cancer screening as an area of focus for our region following a significant reduction in breast and cervical screening rates due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with bowel cancer screening rates falling below the national average.

Twenty-one local general practices were involved in the Cancer Screening Initiative in partnership with the Queensland Health Cancer Screening Unit. The initiative aimed to increase local cancer screening participation rates.

The initiative achieved:

Increasing community vaccination rates

Since the beginning of the pandemic, our PHN worked with schools, aged care, disability providers and with vulnerable groups to increase vaccination rates within our community. The vaccination rollout continued into this year, and we focused our efforts on vulnerable and hard-to-reach members of our community. 

VaxBuses

Our PHN ran three community vaccination buses ‘VaxBuses’ during the year which delivered 921 COVID-19 and flu vaccine doses to the community. The vaccination bus approach removes barriers to accessing vaccination, like transport or distance to health services. All vaccines were provided at no cost to the community, and no bookings were required. The buses were operated by Oceana and Aspen Medical.

Vaccination Hubs

Our PHN ran several vaccination hubs throughout the year. This included four Essential Worker Vaccination Hubs that facilitated the prioritisation of essential workers, with a focus on primary care. Our PHN also continued to work in partnership with disability service providers, RACFs and primary care connections to provide vulnerable members of our community with access.

All boosters in RACFs were completed by February 2021.