Celebrating 10 years of partnership in service delivery

2025 marks ten years of Primary Health Networks (PHNs). Brisbane North PHN was the first PHN to be established, and today we are one of 31 across Australia.

When asked to reflect on the past decade, CEO Libby Dunstan, and present and former Board Chairs Dr Jen Schafer and Dr Anita Green, offered the following words that they would use to describe Brisbane North PHN:

Deliver. Integrated. Partnerships.

These words, apt as they are, set the scene last month as the Brisbane North PHN Board hosted our valued commissioned service providers for an annual evening of networking, celebration and reverence for these critical, strategic relationships.

This year’s Board dinner coincided with the PHN 10-year anniversary, offering an added opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved – this year, and over the span of many – through the strength of our partnerships, and how we might continue to move towards better health outcomes for the people we service, together.

“We cannot do anything without our partners.”

– Anita Green, former Brisbane North PHN Board Chair, reflecting on a decade of highlights at Brisbane North PHN.

A decade on, our vision of a North Brisbane and Moreton Bay community where good health is available to everyone remains. This is a vision we share not only with our staff and our community, but with our commissioned service providers who help to bring this vision to fruition.

Last year alone, these providers supported the PHN to deliver 367,000 commissioned services to 79,000 people across our region.

Of these enduring partnerships, one of which CEO Libby Dunstan is most proud is that shared with the Institute of Urban Indigenous Health (IUIH) and the collaborative strides we have taken towards health equity for First Nations communities.

“It was nice to catch-up with stakeholders from across the North Brisbane and Moreton Bay region to celebrate and acknowledge their 10-year milestone, and to hear from the Chairperson Dr Jennifer Schafer and Mark Roddam, the First Assistant Secretary, Primary Care Division, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. It also provided an opportunity for IUIH to share its experience working with Brisbane North PHN and the Australian Government and to provide an update on some of our key initiatives,” said Wayne Ah Boo, IUIH CEO.

“IUIH have worked with Brisbane North PHN for many years across a range of projects and services and they have always been open and collaborative in their approach to working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations. They have a willingness to be innovative and to keep a clear focus on improving how services are developed and made accessible for First Nations people.”

To mark the occasion, the Board and Executive shared with invited guests a video produced to celebrate the milestone anniversary, and which echoed these sentiments.

Watch Brisbane North PHN celebrates 10 years to hear more about our vision, values, partnerships and shared impact.