Team Discussions

Australian National Preventive Health Agency (ANPHA) was established as a national body with the ability to prevent chronic health issues and promote healthy lifestyle among the population of Australia. The agency collaborates with the Commonwealth Minister of Health and Standing Council on Health and provides recommendations for promoting health policies and strategies across the nation (Moore 2014). In this report, the goals of the agency are enumerated systematically and a strategic operational plan is prepared.

The Commonwealth Minister of Health under the provision of Australian National Preventive Health Agency Act 2010 established this agency to make effective use of Australia’s infrastructure and investment for preventive health (Directory.gov.au, 2018. However, in the year 2014 the significant functioning of the agency was transferred to the Australian Government department of Health (Health.gov.au 2018). The vision of the agency is to provide a society where every individual maintains a healthy lifestyle and promotes it among every sector, individual. The mission of the agency is to promote health and decrease health risks throughout the Australian community and to accelerate strategic partnership in every strata of government and society.

• Promote the policies related to health and provide guidance for the growth, implementation, collaboration and analysis of public, organisational and community-based health risk prevention (Sellers et al. 2015).
• Offer recommendation for policies and program leadership for expansion, application, review of public health and provide strategies with a primary attention to issues such as obesity and harmful consumption of tobacco and alcohol (Nationalplanningcycles.org 2018).
• Enhance the scope of knowledge systems that allow policies and actions related to promotion of health and health issues prevention across Australia.
• The agency aims to provide security of information related to the health promotion and prevention strategies.
• Constructing wide and comprehensive anticipation for the purpose of prevention and health promotion capacity.
• Build up ANPHA as an inventive, dependable, straightforward and responsible association, profoundly respected by governments, accomplices, staff and the community.

Now, taking into account the second goal of the agency that is Health Risk Reduction the following operational plan will be constructed.

In order to flourish and fulfil the goals of the agency it is significant to analyse the pivotal areas where the agency wants to make improvements (Parmenter 2015).

KRA 1 – The agency needs to develop their channel with various collaborators in order to develop a broad health based approach for the prevention of health risks focusing on social and other factors of disease such as consumption of non-prescribed drugs.

KRA 2 – The agency needs to focus on reducing obesity by continuously supporting and conducting research that would result in controlling the growing issue of overweight and obesity.

KRA 3 – The agency needs to implement or guide and support policies and programmes for reducing the use of tobacco and smoking.

KRA 4 – The agency need to put focus on reducing the consumption of alcohol among public by continuously supporting and promoting approaches that address the health risks related to alcohol consumption.

In order to determine and keep a track on the agencies progress towards achieving the goals set by the agency, the key performance indicator is set (Christensen and Lægreid 2015).

• The establishment of at least 10 to 12 response teams for determining the various prevalent risks in society related to drugs, injuries and other contracted diseases.
• The current obesity rate among adults male is 75.7% whereas among females is 66.5% however the agency aims to decrease these figures by 15% (Aph.gov.au 2018). Therefore the targeted outcome among male would be 60.7% and in female would be 50.7%.
• The approximate rate of daily smokers in Australia is 16.3% (Abs.gov.au 2018). The agency aims in further reduction in these figures.
• The current percentage of alcohol consumption among 18 years and above is 80.6% (Abs.gov.au 2018). However, the agency wants to bring down this high figure to 62.6% therefore a total figure of 18% deduction among alcohol consumers.

KPA	Action Plan	KPI	Key Responsibility	Financial Resource/Budget	Human Resource
KPA1	Establishment and maintenance of partners that are required to proceed towards implementing significant actions for preventing health risks and promoting healthy lifestyle.	For initiating immediate action in preventing health risks a maximum 10 to 15 response teams spread across Australia.	To initiate immediate response to risk areas and even suggestion of programmes to prevent the possible health threats.	A total number of 100 staff members for setting up response team with approximate wage of $500 that is $50000 per month.	Recruitment of new staff members for new department set up.
KPA2	Monitoring food product industry and promoting healthy lifestyle programmes through social media marketing.	5 research departments for keeping a track on food product industry and team of internal public relations.	To keep a check on the food manufacturing industry.	Approximate amount of $100000 to $1000000.	Hiring contractual and other staff members and maintenance of distinctive departments.
KPA3	Promoting smoke free zones in public places and establishing social marketing campaigns and events for educating the public the harmful effect of tobacco and smoking.	Public Relations for social media marketing and organising campaigns and events.	Promotion of health advisory campaigns.	Approximate amount of $100000.	Recruiting staff members for various departments.
KPA4	Developing campaigns and programmes for reducing the rate of alcohol consumption among public.	Social media marketing team and Public relations Consultancy.	The key responsibility to reduce the consumption of alcohol among public.	Approximate amount of $100000.	Recruiting staff members for various departments.

For agency as huge as ANPHA, an extensive number of staff members would be required for meeting the goals set by the agency. An approximate number of 500 staff members would be required in implementing the action plan and successfully accomplishing the goals of the agency.

Background Information on Australian National Preventive Health Agency

The most important resource would be financial resource with the help of which other requirements could be provided for the agency (Matvos and Seru 2014). Since the agency has been now functioning under the Department of Health, therefore the agency could get financial resource from the government and other associations. Apart from these, the agency would require transport vehicles for providing response teams in various locations of the nation.

The agency has to set up various extended departments for organising and setting up campaigns, events and promoting healthy lifestyle. Additionally, the agency will set up research and response team for preventing health risks.

For the implementation of the entire operational plan the approximate budget of the agency would be around $1,250,000. For the first KPI an approximate budget of $50000 is required. In addition to this, taking into account the second KPI an estimated range of $100000 to $1000000 is considered. Thirdly, for the successful accomplishment of goal the third KPI is measured and therefore, requires an approximate budget of $100000. Lastly, for preventing health risks among the public in Australia the fourth KPI is considered that requires an estimated value of $100000.

Conclusion

Therefore, from the above-discussed operational plan it can be said that the agency has an advantage since it is an establishment of government recommendation. The agency has a set of goals whose main aim is to support and promote healthy lifestyle and prevent potential or existing health threats that affect the population of the nation. The agency with its continuous efforts have already provided millions of communities with healthy lifestyle habits and other missions. However, with the implementation of this operational plan the aim is to further achieve the agency’s overarching goals. The distinctive strategic plans are discussed for achieving the goals of the agency and lastly an estimated budget is established for calculating the required expenditures for the implementation of the action plan.

References

Abs.gov.au. 2018. Australian smoking rates falling. Online Available at: https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/E6DE72422D16BBB4CA258130001536C2?OpenDocument Accessed 25 Aug. 2018.

Aph.gov.au. 2018. Overweight and obesity in Australia – Parliament of Australia. Online Available at: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/archive/obesity Accessed 25 Aug. 2018.

Christensen, T. and Lægreid, P., 2015. Performance and accountability—A theoretical discussion and an empirical assessment. Public Organization Review, 15(2), pp.207-225.

Collings, D.G., Wood, G.T. and Szamosi, L.T. 2018. Human resource management: A critical approach. In Human Resource Management pp. 1-23. Routledge.

Directory.gov.au. 2018. Australian National Preventive Health Agency | Government Online Directory. Online Available at: https://www.directory.gov.au/portfolios/health/australian-national-preventive-health-agency Accessed 25 Aug. 2018.

Health.gov.au. 2018. Department of Health | Welcome to the Department of Health. Online Available at: https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/Home Accessed 25 Aug. 2018.

Matvos, G. and Seru, A., 2014. Resource allocation within firms and financial market dislocation: Evidence from diversified conglomerates. The Review of Financial Studies, 27(4), pp.1143-1189.

Moore, M., 2014. Public Health Association of Australia & Australian Health Promotion Association.

Nationalplanningcycles.org. 2018. Online Available at: https://www.nationalplanningcycles.org/sites/default/files/country_docs/Australia/strategic_plan_2011-2015.pdf Accessed 25 Aug. 2018.

Parmenter, D., 2015. Key performance indicators: developing, implementing, and using winning KPIs. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 101-105.

Sellers, K., Leider, J.P., Harper, E., Castrucci, B.C., Bharthapudi, K., Liss-Levinson, R., Jarris, P.E. and Hunter, E.L., 2015. The Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey: the first national survey of state health agency employees. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 21(Suppl 6), p.S13.