We need to ensure that funding is directed towards genuine outcomes at the individual, community and system level while recognising that less tangible benefits such as those of service user choice, social capital, connectedness, and engagement are also enabled
Lived experience voices in commissioning
Challenge - to place people with lived experience at the centre of commissioning cycles, we need to address our collective skills and capability gaps to do this effectively and sensitively.
- We are commissioning to meet the needs within our community and people with lived experience are central to understanding these needs and how the interactions with the services and systems are currently meeting or not meeting those needs.
- Ensuring lived experience stories inform commissioning processes adds depth to data and creates empathy in the design and delivery of services.
- Involving people with lived experience in the design phase directly engages service users with improvements and innovations that will improve outcomes .
Our action
– to develop the capability and capacity of partners – government and sector – to deliver commissioning cycles informed by lived experience with appropriate tools, training and supports.
Contributes to reform outcome(s)
– Better respond to community need, both existing and emerging, through increased flexibility and opportunities for innovation.
– Improve integration across the service systems to support seamless and holistic care, and transitions between services.
Intersectionality
Challenge – to collaboratively design with an understanding and appreciation of intersectionality – where the needs of priority populations overlap and interconnect across the human services system.
- We are commissioning for people within our community who present with a range of intersecting needs arising for example, from gender, ethnicity, aboriginality, disability or socio-economic factors.
- Intersectionality refers to an understanding of these social categorisations as they apply to individuals but also, to the responsiveness of services to the range of needs of these groups.
- Intersectionality is different from integrated service responses which occurs when different parts of a system integrate seamlessly to provide a holistic service to a client.
- Where commissioning has successfully addressed intersectionality, integrated service responses are more likely to be achieved or targeted services more clearly defined.
Our action (s)
– To develop tools and guidance that help identify intersectionality during the needs assessment (strategise phase)
– To develop tools and guidance that help plans for intersectionality during co-design and co-production activities (design phase)
– To invest in services that respond effectively to intersectionality, and resolve barriers to service and system integration (invest phase)
– To ensure outcome reporting includes intersectionality in client data or case studies, where people have provided informed consent for data release (delivery phase)
Contributes to reform outcome (s)
– Improve equity in health and life outcomes for priority population groups, through commissioning decisions made about where and how to focus support.
Page updated: 28 Feb 2024
