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What is the project?
All 21 Community Health First partner organisations have come together with support from the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance’s Empowerment Fund (2025 – 2026 Grant) to build the data and evaluation capability of the community health sector.
We’re working in partnership with Monash’s Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living (RAIL) Research Centre to better understand how community health improves the health and wellbeing of our clients and communities. Monash’s RAIL Research Centre is supporting the project’s research component under Monash Human Research Ethics Committee governance. The research project participant information statement is available here.
Some parts of the project are about participating organisations improving how they work with data. This quality improvement work is part of business as usual for healthcare organisations and is not under research governance.
Why is this project important?
Stories are powerful motivators that can demonstrate the impact of care. But government decision-making also relies on data.
Successful funding bids are dependent on data that demonstrate the impact on populations of clients at scale, not just individual stories. Community health currently lacks the evidence base to demonstrate that investment in our sector, and investment in early interventions, leads to reductions in downstream acute health setting costs.
We believe that the community health sector has a shared responsibility to define and use credible, high-quality outcome measures that reflect what matters to Victorians. We need these outcome measures to:
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Ensure every person can access equitable, high-quality, place-based care
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Demonstrate community health’s unique value in enabling early intervention
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Improve outcomes and reduce avoidable pressure on the health system
We want to make sure that community health is visible, trusted and sustainably funded.
Who is participating?
The project has started with nine pilot organisations: Ballarat Community Health Service, cohealth, DPV Health, Each, IPC Health, Latrobe Community Health Service, Northern District Community Health, Primary Care Connect and Sunraysia Community Health Service.
Other partner organisations will join the project in 2027. No organisations have commenced sharing information with Monash University under the research study at this time.
This page will be updated when information sharing begins.
For Clients
Why should I participate in the project?
All the Community Health First partner organisations are working together to see how our services help the community. This information will help us better our services for clients and communities. Understanding our clients across the state will help us push for long-term funding. Long-term funding would help us offer more services to current clients who need them and support new clients too.
How will you protect my information?
This project is a partnership between Community Health First and the Monash University Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living (RAIL) Research Centre. The Monash RAIL Research Centre will handle information from community health organisations according to privacy laws and regulations.
Q: What information does Monash University receive?
A: Community health organisations can share information. They collect this data from clients. This happens during service delivery. We remove direct identifiers before sharing with Monash RAIL Research Centre. This includes names. It also includes addresses and contact details. Researchers do not receive this information.
Community health organisations are the owners of their client records. Sharing information with Monash University for the project doesn’t mean you give up ownership. You still keep your rights. You still own your information.
Q: How will Monash University make sure my information is safe?
A: Monash University gets information from secure systems. These systems are safe. They use authentication. They also have access controls and audit logging. Project information is in Monash University's Australian systems. Only authorised staff can access it.
We manage information under approved privacy, ethics and governance requirements. Reports and findings produced by the project do not identify individual people. Only non-identifiable results are shared outside the authorised project team.
Project data won't be processed, analysed, or managed with AI systems.
Q: Who do I contact if I have a question about participation or consent?
A: You receive services from the community health organisation. They manage your participation and consent. If you want to know about your data in the project, please ask your community health organisation. They can explain your options and how to participate.
Additional information is available in the project's Participant Information Statement below.
Contact the Research Team
If you have questions about the research project, you can contact the Monash University Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living (RAIL) Research Centre contact below:
Dr Sara Whittaker
Concerns or complaints
If you have concerns about the research project, please contact the Monash RAIL research team in the first instance. Information about research complaints is available through the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC) and is included in the Participant Information Statement.