Year in Review 2025-2026

Message from our Board Chair Dr Richard Choong and CEO Bernie Kenny

The 2025-2026 year has been a year of important progress in strengthening primary health care, with a focus on improving equity and access, and delivering better health outcomes for Western Australians. Our work has been guided by our role in delivering Australian Government primary care reform priorities across WA and by our commitment to ensuring primary health care is accessible, connected and responsive to the needs of our communities.

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Our region – Western Australia

Commissioning Coordination Capacity building Capable organisation 
Financials Read our Activity Snapshot 

Commissioning is how WAPHA turns population health needs into practical, locally relevant primary health care services across WA. We commission services based on data and target them to those most in need. This includes assessing and prioritising needs, planning and designing services, shaping the structure of supply, contracting service providers, and monitoring and evaluating their performance and our commissioning direction.

Commissioning in action

WAPHA invested more than $207 million and funded 389 services to improve the health and wellbeing of Western Australians in 2025-2026. Here are a few highlights: 

This year 27,600 clients received mental health support from commissioned services through 202,571 occasions of service.  

We established six new Medicare Urgent Care Clinics in Ellenbrook, Booragoon, Geraldton, Mundaring, Nollamara and Yanchep, providing treatment for urgent, but not life-threatening, illnesses and injuries requiring same day assessment for people who may otherwise have visited an emergency department. Over the last year, there have been 121,079 presentations across WA’s MUCCs, and 48 per cent of patients would have otherwise gone to an emergency department.  

We launched YFlex, a community-based youth mental health service located in Burswood, Mandurah and Rockingham. This service is designed for young people aged 12 to 25 who are experiencing moderate to severe mental health challenges and need more support than lower intensity services alone can provide. YFlex operates in the space between primary care and specialist mental health services, and works closely with local services, including headspace, GPs, schools, child and adolescent mental health services, hospitals and community organisations.

Over the last year, 6,092 Aboriginal clients accessed Integrated Team Care through 88,005 occasions of service. This service supports Aboriginal people with chronic conditions to access the health care they need.  Care coordination made up 79 per cent of services clients received. 

We commissioned a third Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Clinic in Joondalup to provide comprehensive care for women experiencing endometriosis, pelvic pain, perimenopause and menopause. These clinics build capacity of primary care to manage these conditions and improve access to expert, multidisciplinary services. This year, 353 new patients were seen across WA’s three pelvic pain and endometriosis clinics in Murdoch, Joondalup and Albany through 1,163 service contacts.  

In 2025-2026, 3,604 clients received support from commissioned alcohol and other drugs services through 24,756 occasions of service. Support included screening and assessment, counselling and therapeutic interventions, harm reduction support, referral and care coordination, and follow-up and monitoring. 

This year, 2,960 people visited one of WA’s five Medicare Mental Health Centres, receiving 19,620 sessions of support. Medicare Mental Health Centres offer free, confidential mental health information, services and support for adults aged 18 years and over. The Centres are staffed by qualified professionals and people with lived experience of mental health challenges, and no referral, diagnosis, appointment or Medicare card is required to access support. 

Jointly commissioned with the Mental Health Commission WA, we launched the Aftercare Services Program, providing timely, practical and compassionate support for people discharged from hospital or emergency departments following a suicide attempt or suicidal crisis. It has been designed to provide an interim safety net during the critical period after discharge, when people can be at heightened risk and may need support to reconnect safely with community, primary care, social supports and longer-term mental health services. 

This year 9,933 young people accessed headspace services across WA through 57,130 occasions of service. headspace centres provide mental health, physical and sexual health, work and study support, and alcohol and other drug services support to 12 to 25 year olds. 

Through GP after hours support in residential aged care homes in Broome and Geraldton, 881 telehealth consultations and 87 face-to-face consultations were provided. The service allows residents to be safely managed in their own care settings and prevents unnecessary transfers to hospital. 

Needs assessments supporting future commissioning

WAPHA’s commissioning approach begins with understanding community need and where we can have the greatest impact. Bringing together insights from needs assessments, population health data, workforce information, and service availability shapes our investment decisions. 

Analysing health needs alongside local service and workforce capacity, we can identify communities experiencing the greatest gaps in access to care. This allows us to direct funding and support to the populations and regions that need it most. 

Our planning doesn’t stop with formal needs assessments. Throughout the year, we continue to monitor health trends, emerging priorities, workforce challenges and areas of unmet need. This ongoing intelligence helps ensure our commissioning remains responsive, targeted and focused on improving outcomes for Western Australians. 

This year, we published the latest triennial needs assessments across all three PHN regions. These assessments draw on multiple data sources including MBS data, potentially preventable hospitalisations, workforce data, emergency department data, service utilisation information, service mapping and extensive stakeholder consultation. The assessments specifically seek to identify under-served populations at greater risk of poor health outcomes and establish priorities for future commissioning. 

Supporting quality improvement and building capacity in primary health care 

During 2025-2026 WAPHA invested $9.8 million in supporting GPs with digital integration and enhanced practice support programs.  

WAPHA continued to provide targeted support to practices through practice navigation, quality improvement and digital enablement initiatives. These programs help practices improve clinical quality, use data effectively and implement sustainable improvements in care delivery. 

Over the last year, we provided support to more than 600 general practices across WA, including over 6,300 quality improvement and practice support activities, with a focus on embedding multidisciplinary models of care, chronic disease management, practice sustainability and improved outcomes aligned to the Quintuple Aim. 

Our no cost Practice Assist service continued to provide advice, resources and education to help strengthen general practice across WA, with 35,612 contacts over the last year and over 59,684 individual visitors to the Practice Assist website. 

Our Clinician Assist WA website supported GPs and health professionals with clinical and referral guidance. Secure and locally managed, Clinician Assist WA ensures that GPs and other health professionals have the resources they need to assess, manage and refer patients across WA, all at no cost. Over the last year there were 328, 292 pageviews recorded. 57 per cent of the total GP workforce in WA have registered for Clinician Assist WA since launch in August 2024. 

Over the past year, we had 10,426 visits to our SHAPE website and 49 participants completed online training, supporting person-centred and culturally safe weight management in primary care.  

Leveraging digital technology in health care  

Our leadership of national digital initiatives such as Primary Health Insights and Primary Sense helps to improve population health outcomes, nationally as well as locally. 

Primary Sense, a clinical decision support tool that helps health care practitioners give patients the right care at the right time, is used by 548 WA general practices. It has provided essential support to general practices through real-time medication safety alerts and patient-specific care prompts, enabling clinicians to identify high-risk patients and intervene early. Each month, Primary Sense triggers 23,000 care prompts and 1,300 medication safety alerts. 

Building workforce capability through education, training and professional development 

Through its learning program, WAPHA helped build the capability of primary care professionals to deliver safe, high-quality and responsive care. In 2025–2026, we facilitated 53 educational events with 1,030 participants, supporting ongoing professional development across areas such as clinical practice, quality improvement, digital enablement, prevention and service delivery improvement. 

Over the last year, we supported 534 health professionals to upskill in managing and treating depression and suicidality and funded 84 community training courses in suicide prevention.   

WAPHA continued to build the capacity of general practice to support prevention, early detection and timely care through cancer screening and immunisation initiatives. Over the year, this included more than 2,200 views of immunisation education webinars, 27 practice visits focused on immunisation and cancer screening, and support for more than 70 per cent of WA practices to integrate with the National Cancer Screening Register, an increase of 30 per cent. 

Building advance care planning and palliative care capacity and capability in general practice and the community  

Our Advanced Care Planning and Palliative Care Awareness Program was delivered to 18 Community and Neighbourhood Resource Centres, resulting in 586 people receiving direct information on advanced care planning and palliative care. 

The Palliative Care Champions project in Esperance increased understanding of advanced care planning and palliative care with GPs and practice nurses. Processes in the three participating general practices have been strengthened and the number of advanced care planning documents increased from 17 to 84. 

In collaboration with Palliative Care WA, our activities focussed on improving access to advanced care planning and palliative care information and support for under-served communities resulting in 97 people from under-served communities seeking support to complete advanced care planning documentation. 

Strengthening cultural competency  

In 2025–2026, WAPHA continued to strengthen cultural competency across primary care by moving this work from intent into practical action. Our focus was on supporting providers to build the capability, confidence and systems needed to deliver care that is culturally safe, inclusive and responsive to the needs of Aboriginal people and diverse communities across WA. This year we invested $800,000 in strengthening cultural competency, equity and inclusion within the services we commission.  

This year’s outcomes show the impact of that approach. Through targeted investment in Aboriginal organisations, procurement from Aboriginal businesses, cultural learning initiatives, Aboriginal suicide prevention training, and practical resources for general practices and Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, WAPHA helped embed cultural safety more deeply into service delivery. These activities are strengthening the capacity of providers and primary care teams to create welcoming, respectful and person-centred experiences for the people and communities they support.

WA Collaborative Commissioning Partnership – moving toward one health system 

One of WAPHA’s most significant system-level achievements was advancing the WA Collaborative Commissioning Partnership, bringing together WAPHA, the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, WA Department of Health and the Aboriginal Health Council of WA. The partnership is focused on joint planning, shared accountability and collaborative commissioning across primary care, hospitals, community services and social care. The aim is to create a more connected, person-centred health system and reduce duplication between services. 

This year, leaders and stakeholders from across health care in WA came together for the recent Collaborative Commissioning Partnership Forum, reinforcing the sector’s commitment to working together to deliver person-centred health care. Keynote speakers, including Peter Breadon (The Grattan Institute), Klaudia Shenton (Aboriginal Health Council of WA) and Lucille Chalmers (Darling Downs West Moreton PHN), who shared insights on funding reform, blended funding models, where WA stands in relation to the health-related Closing the Gap targets, and lessons from other states. 

Expanding multidisciplinary team-based care in general practice 

WAPHA continues to invest in multidisciplinary models of care that bring together GPs, nurse practitioners, allied health professionals and pharmacists to deliver more coordinated care. These initiatives help ensure clinicians work to their full scope of practice, reduce pressure on GPs and improve access to care for patients with chronic and complex conditions.  

The rollout of multidisciplinary teams into general practice this year was designed to strengthen practice capability, support innovative workforce models and improve continuity of care through integrated team-based approaches. This activity brings together health professionals such as nurses, podiatrists, dieticians and physiotherapists to work alongside selected general practice teams. Patients at participating practices can access services including face-to-face and telehealth care, case conferencing and coordinated support tailored to their needs. 

This year, 21 general practices across WA integrated non-dispensing pharmacists into their teams, supporting improved patient outcomes and quality use of medications. As part of the care team, non-dispensing pharmacists deliver clinical pharmacy and education services to patients and practice staff through a coordinated, collaborative and integrated approach. Over the last year, 19,655 activities were undertaken by non-dispensing pharmacists in general practice. 

We commissioned the Integrated Care and Allied Health Program in the East Kimberly, run by Wunan Health and Wellbeing Centre. The program introduced ten new allied health and Aboriginal cultural positions, creating new pathways for professionals to live, work and deliver coordinated, community-focused care for Kununurra residents living with chronic, and often complex, health conditions. The program will work in partnership across health sectors to coordinate multidisciplinary care, strengthen locally tailored referral pathways and foster shared learning opportunities. 

Over the past year 6,092 Aboriginal clients accessed Integrated Team Care through 88,005 occasions of service, including care coordination, health system navigation and access to services such as allied health. Care coordination made up 79 per cent of services clients received. This service supports Aboriginal people with chronic conditions to access the health care they need. 

This year 345 new patients were supported through 1,163 service contacts across WA’s three pelvic pain and endometriosis clinics in Murdoch, Joondalup and Albany. Clinics are structured around GP-led teams that include nurse practitioners, pelvic physiotherapists, dietitians and allied health professionals. This ensures that patients receive holistic care under one roof, reducing fragmentation and improving continuity of care. 

Initiatives reducing avoidable hospitalisations and supporting aged care navigation  

Phase two of the Optimising Primary Care Coordination in Residential Aged Care Homes project supported better coordination between aged care providers, GPs and health services. The initiative improved palliative care planning, advance care planning and worked to reduce avoidable hospital presentations and admissions. Complementary initiatives included telehealth support for residential aged care homes and enhanced after-hours support, enabling aged care residents to access care earlier and more appropriately.  

Over the past year, 1,851 clients accessed care finders, a service supporting vulnerable older people to navigate the aged care system, with 8,111 care finders services delivered between July to December 2025. The network of care finders supports improved integration between the health, aged care and other systems at the local level. 

A new system integration service is being piloted in the Perth South PHN region to increase the capacity of GPs, practice nurses and Aboriginal health services to support patients impacted by family, domestic and sexual violence (FDSV). The Perth South FDSV Local Link helps busy general practice teams to intervene early and work collaboratively with specialist FDSV providers to connect victim-survivors to the support they need.  

Co-commissioned with Mental Health Commission WA, we established the Aftercare Services Program, providing timely, practical and compassionate support for people discharged from hospital or emergency departments following a suicide attempt or suicidal crisis.  

A joint initiative between WAPHA, Rural Health West and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners WA, the WA GP Advisory Panel is a unique approach to engaging directly with general practitioners on important topics that has strengthened the influence of general practice in planning, design and policy setting for primary health care. Over the past year, the panel has provided valuable feedback and insights around: 

• Change support for general practice under current Medicare and urgent care reforms. 
• GP-led ADHD diagnosis and prescribing in WA. 
• The challenges and barriers they are experiencing in delivering high-quality women’s health-specific care. 
• Experience with expansion of pharmacy prescribing powers to treat urinary tract infections. 
• Upgrades to the Lifeblood High Ferritin App. 
• The design of the electronic referral forms for WA Department of Health outpatient services.  
• Reflections on winter pressures (including seasonal vaccination programs).

This year, we continued our efforts to strengthen WAPHA’s organisational capability through maintaining strong governance, stakeholder engagement and investing in our culture, our systems and our people. 

Board governance, stakeholder engagement and financial stewardship 

In 2025–2026, WAPHA’s Board provided strong oversight of organisational performance, risk, compliance and delivery against our strategic priorities, helping keep the organisation focused on access, equity and integration across the primary health care system. This governance was particularly important in a year shaped by national reform, increasing service demand and the need to balance innovation with accountability. 

Purposeful stakeholder engagement strengthened local intelligence and helped shape more responsive planning and commissioning. This included working with member organisations, general practices, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, commissioned service providers, health service providers, peak bodies, stakeholder panels and reference groups to ensure decisions reflected community need and service realities. 

Strong financial stewardship ensured Australian Government investment was managed responsibly and directed to areas of greatest need. This included careful management of commissioning investment, contract performance, probity and reporting obligations, alongside continued improvement in internal systems and assurance processes. Together, these efforts strengthened organisational resilience and supported confidence that WAPHA is well positioned to deliver value for money, manage risk and steward primary health care investment for the benefit of Western Australians. 

The PHN audit was conducted by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing as part of a program auditing all 31 PHNs in the country. The scope of the audit was broad and included financial management, planning and reporting, governance and decision-making processes, organisational capacity, probity and commissioning practices, stakeholder relationships, and data management and governance. The audit team identified WAPHA is a robust organisation supported by strong governance and well-documented internal processes, highlighting some opportunities for improvement in some of our processes. 

WAPHA continued to implement improvements arising from the 2025 QIC Health and Community Services Standards accreditation assessment, with a focus on governance, risk and financial management. These enhancements strengthened organisational capability and supported ongoing quality improvement. 

Cultural competency and diversity 

Reaffirming our commitment to improving health equity through genuine partnerships and better access to culturally safe care, we launched our Innovate RAP 2025-2027.  

WAPHA continues to embed equity, cultural responsiveness and inclusion into organisational practice.  All WAPHA people have completed cultural awareness and LGBTIQA+ equity and inclusion training. 

We developed our Aboriginal Employment Strategy, informed by WAPHA people and our Aboriginal Empowerment Group. The Strategy will be implemented for 2026-2029 and focuses on strengthening recruitment, retention, development, cultural safety and inclusion, and Aboriginal voice.  

Information security  

This year, WAPHA maintained our ISO 27001:2022 Certification through follow-up accreditation, continuing our dedication to the highest standards of information security management. This certification means that WAPHA has a system in place to manage risks to data security and that we are committed to following best practices and principles.

Investment in our people 

WAPHA is committed to investing in the people that make our organisation strong. This is demonstrated through learning opportunities for our people, leadership development, dedication to wellbeing support, an inclusive workplace and opportunities to meaningfully connect throughout the year. 

Through our Evolve program, we approved 62 learning requests to provide financial support for employees pursuing external learning for their professional development.  

Other key elements of learning and development support included: 

• Launching WAPHA’s Leadership Development Program 2026-2027, a four-phase approach to develop leadership capability through formal learning, reflection, ongoing coaching and assessments. 
• Updating Thrive, our Capability Development Framework, to ensure the skills and capabilities that are critical to WAPHA’s impact continue to be relevant and support career development. 
• Reinforcing a self-paced learning approach through platform offerings such as LinkedIn Learning which garnered 67 per cent usage this year. 

Through WAPHA’s Belong Strategy, several employee groups contributed to organising initiatives and activities to support a positive employee experience.  

Our Employee Experience Champions led the way as they: 

• Spearheaded recognition through embedding Recognition Champions across each portfolio and promoting ways to recognise colleagues in each area. This led to 761 peer-to-peer shoutouts in WAPHA’s recognition platform, Applaud. 
• Launched the Common Grounds initiative, each month pairing employees from different teams to catch up and have a cuppa, supporting connection across the organisation. 
• Promoted and led WAPHA’s volunteering program, supporting causes such as local schools, community groups and blood donation. 
• Supported multiple cultural and inclusivity learnings for employees through campaigns around NAIDOC Week, National Reconciliation Week and PRIDE Month. 

Our Wellbeing Advocates provided year-round Mental Health First Aid support to all WAPHA employees along with proactively promoting our Employee Assistance Program and wellbeing webinars. The group has also created monthly wellbeing blogs through our internal Waffle newsletter to make wellbeing accessible to all WAPHA people. 

WAPHA’s Neurodiversity Advocates have championed neuroinclusivity in the workplace this year through: 

• Creating and launching neuroinclusive resources to spread awareness about neurodiversity and ways to support. 
• Organising webinars and interviews to shed light on lived experience and spread advocacy in the space. 
• Joining the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Program, supporting visibility and understanding of non-visible disabilities. 

Sustainability 

WAPHA continues to demonstrate our commitment to environmental sustainability through achieving sustainability performance targets for 2025–2026 and delivering measurable reductions in organisational carbon emissions. 

This year, WAPHA reduced our total carbon footprint by 32 per cent compared to the previous financial year baseline. For the year to date, emissions stand at 109.2 mtCO2-e, representing an absolute reduction of 54.7 mtCO2-e compared with the previous financial year. 

The metropolitan vehicle fleet based in Subiaco also continued to outperform expectations, maintaining an average monthly emissions level of 3.7 mtCO2-e, which is 26 per cent below the established target of 5.0 mtCO2-e set in October 2025. 

Reflecting our commitment to practical, measurable sustainability outcomes, we reduced our fleet size by 82 per cent since 2019 through systematic operational demand reviews, utilisation analysis and asset rationalisation. Building on this progress, WAPHA has established our first Zero Mandate Target, committing to transition the organisation’s remaining regional diesel vehicle footprint to hybrid vehicles by 31 December 2026.