Sexually Transmissible Infections and Blood Borne Viruses

Status: Deliver phase

Commissioning for Sexually Transmissible Infections and Blood Borne Viruses Services (STIBBVs) has entered the Deliver phase.

Thank you to the STIBBV subsector, NGOs, and community members for your engagement in the commissioning of services to prevent the transmission of STIBBVs and minimise their impacts in the Canberra community.

Applications to the grant opportunity have been carefully assessed by the STIBBV grant assessment panel according to the grant guidelines.

The ACT Health Directorate is pleased to announce the 5 successful applicants who will deliver essential STIBBV services in the community:

• Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT (SHFPACT)
• Companion House
• Hepatitis ACT
• Meridian Incorporated (Meridian)
• ASHM Health (ASHM)

These providers are trusted providers, with the required experience, capacity and proven capability to provide high quality, evidence based and innovative STIBBV services for the Canberra community.

STIBBV services, projects and/or programs will be provided across the following priority areas:

• Clinical services
• Prevention and harm reduction
• Support and advocacy
• Health promotion and education
• Community development and engagement
• Workforce training and development and clinical practice support

New STIBBV services

The new service delivery model will bring a more targeted focus on reducing the transmission, burden of disease and social impacts associated with STIs and BBVs. Funded services include:

• Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT (SHFPACT) – delivery of a comprehensive range of services, including free and low cost STIBBV testing, screening and clinical services, to help reduce and prevent the transmission of STIBBVs.
• Companion House – delivery of clinical services to support people who are newly arrived in Australia, including asylum seekers and people from refugee backgrounds.
• Hepatitis ACT – delivery of the ACT’s Hepatitis C Point of Care Testing program, secondary needle and syringe program and community development, engagement and education activities for viral hepatitis.
• Meridian Incorporated (Meridian) – provision of health promotion, peer support and community development activities for people living with or at risk of HIV, and delivery of new ‘Peer Test’ point-of-care testing program.
• ASHM Health (ASHM) – delivery of workforce development and training programs to strengthen capacity of the STIBBV sector workforce, ensuring the ACT workforce is suitably qualified and capable to deliver STIBBV services.

Please note this is not an exhaustive list of services.

The STIBBV Policy team would like to sincerely thank all stakeholders who have contributed to and participated in this process. If you have any questions, please contact: SHBBVpolicy@act.gov.au

Summary of funded services through STIBBV Commissioning

Commissioning engagement and collaboration activities

The goal of Commissioning in the STIBBV Subsector is for ACTHD, in collaboration with ACTHD funded STIBBV services, to collaboratively design a STIBBV service system which meets the evolving needs of the ACT community. The ACTHD seeks to design a service system which is appropriate, equitable, accessible, and affordable for all individuals, with a particular focus on priority populations as identified in the Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV and Sexually Transmissible Infections ACT Statement of Priorities 2016-2020 (Statement of Priorities) Please note that the next iteration of the Statement of Priorities was delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and is scheduled for publication in 2024 to align timing with the refresh of the overarching STI/BBV National Strategies.

Please click on each of the phases below to learn more about projected, scheduled and completed activities, and to access key output documents.

Discover

The Discover phase is about understanding the challenges, issues, and gaps within and across the sector, and exploring opportunities for innovation. In the Discover phase, we consider and articulate our intentions of Commissioning.

Strategise

The Strategise phase builds on the work undertaken in the Discover phase and provides an opportunity to consolidate a wide range of data and information through a Needs Assessment. In the Strategise phase, we work with sector partners and people with a Lived Experience to validate the needs of the community,
better understand service provision, identify service gaps and duplication, and consider what service and community outcomes are possible through Commissioning.

Design

The Design phase is where essential collaboration between commissioner, sector partners, service providers and other stakeholders takes place. The Design phase enables us to examine, shape and involved services, and align key service models and characteristics with desired health and wellbeing outcomes
for the community.

Invest

The Invest phase provides an opportunity to define our approach to market and investing in health services which meet the needs of the ACT community, in accordance with the Territory’s Value for Money Considerations.

Deliver

The Deliver phase is all about delivering high quality health services, monitoring the reach and impact of health services and drawing on lessons learned to inform future Commissioning cycles.

Integrate

The Integrate phase is about integrating the knowledge and experience gained from previous commissioning cycles into future commissioning cycles as part of a quality improvement and continuous system reform approach.