Background Urban planning is of fundamental use in promoting a healthy urban environment, prompting increased collaboration between public health and local government planning authorities. A major challenge to the success of this co-operation, however, is the difficulty of ensuring that the views of the health sector are, ultimately, reflected in planning policy. To facilitate this, a qualitative study was designed by Population Health, South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD) in 2016. Objective The aim of the study was to understand and help improving the effectiveness of collaboration between local governments and public health sector. Methods Qualitative data was collected from 14 in-depth interviews with staff representing five local councils: Bankstown, Camden, Liverpool, Campbelltown, and Fairfield. The data was thematically analysed using inductive and deductive reasoning by applying NVivo software. Results While councils recognise the potential value of consultation (and partnership) with SWSLHD, the fact is that the status quo is one of limited communication and the absence of any clearly defined process for collaboration. Councils perceive knowledge gaps in relation to basic issues such as who provides what services to whom and how to access services from health experts related to evidence based local government level data. Implications: The study demonstrated that a shift in provision of public health evidence that has local applicability in a timely manner on issues of mutual concern, and proactive and ongoing consultations between SWSLHD and councils would enable effective engagement, coordinated and sustained actions. As the concerns raised in this study about the need for practical information on effective interventions and impact of social determinants of health echo the findings from studies that were conducted in other local government settings of Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales, the study findings may be applied to other councils beyond the SWSLHD.
Background Partnership between local government and local health districts is imperative, given their overlapping goals. However, the need for further evidence-informed actions to address health inequities remains. The effectiveness of such partnerships requires better insight into how local governments perceive partnerships with local health districts, and how well equipped and prepared they are to deal with the health equity opportunities and challenges. It was precisely for these reasons that a qualitative study was conducted by South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD) in 2016. Objective This study aims to better understand how to improve the effectiveness of collaboration between local governments and the public health sector. Methods Qualitative data were collected from 14 in-depth interviews with staff representing five of the local councils comprising SWSLHD. These data were then thematically analysed using inductive and deductive reasoning through the application of NVivo software. Results While councils recognize the potential value of consulting SWSLHD, limited communication and the absence of a clearly defined process for collaboration needs to be addressed. Moreover, councils perceive knowledge gaps in relation to basic issues, such as who provides what services to whom, and how to access local-government-level data from health experts. Conclusions The study confirms the importance of providing locally relevant public health data to help address issues of mutual concern that arise during the consultation process. Moreover, it suggests that proactive and ongoing consultation between SWSLHD and councils is critical if there is to be effective engagement, and coordinated and sustained action. The concerns raised in this study echo findings from studies from other local government settings of Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. Thus, the study findings may be applied to other councils beyond the SWSLHD.
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