Vol. No. Vol. 2718No. 7 27
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Wednesday, 13, 2024 2016 Wednesday,January August 14,
SHOW TIME: Horsham College will stage its annual production this week, bringing a pantomime of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to audiences tomorrow, Friday and Saturday at Horsham Town Hall. Sienna Walsgott, pictured, plays Evil Queen. Tickets are available from the town hall’s website or box office. More pictures, page 18. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
Health restructure T
BY LAUREN HENRY
he State Government has vowed to abort the proposal of widespread health service mergers across Victoria, instead introducing local health service networks.
The new networks, of which there will be five across the state – Grampians, Loddon Mallee, Barwon South West, Hume and Gippsland – aim to provide a more integrated and efficient health system. The Grampians network will serve a population of 250,000 people and includes Beaufort and Skipton Health Service, Central Highlands Rural Health, East Grampians Health Service, East Wimmera Health Service, Grampians Health, Maryborough and District Health Service, Rural
Northwest Health and West Wimmera Health Service. Premier Jacinta Allan said the government would also invest a further $1.5 billion to support hospitals and adopt 26 of the 27 recommendations proposed by an expert advisory committee in the Health Service Plan, released last week. Ms Allan said the government would deliver on key reforms to the health system, such as introducing a new agency called Hospitals Victoria to focus on supporting hospitals to deliver frontline care, but would not accept the recommendation to forcibly amalgamate Victoria’s health services. West Wimmera Health Service chief executive Richie Dodds said he welcomed the government’s announcement that health service amalgamations would not proceed.
“We’re continuing to work closely with our neighbouring health services, and we’ll fully participate in the next stage of putting the network together and working within it,” he said. Mr Dodds said there was already a formal Grampians Health Service Partnership across the region, which the plan did not fully acknowledge. “We welcome the report in the sense it is clear, it gives everyone a clear idea of their thinking ... and it talks about a lot of things that we’re keen to improve and make better, and that’s closer integration of health services, electronic medical records, and better communication between us, which is ultimately for the benefit of the people we serve,” he said. Mr Dodds said he believed the networks would not result in disbanding each health service’s separate boards.
“We’ve the strongest board we’ve had in my involvement with the health service in terms of skills, qualifications and experience, so we’re very fortunate in that regard,” he said. “They’ll keep that in place now for the foreseeable future, and we’ll remain in place as a management team and all the structures we have locally in place that have got us to where we are now, which is going pretty well in terms of accreditation, quality and safety standards, financial sustainability, and community involvement in the organisation.” Mr Dodds said all health services faced financial challenges. “The sector has still got challenges. We’ll continue to do our best to run our operations as efficiently as we can,” he said. “We think we’re about the right
size for the West Wimmera Health Service, we’re fairly large for what they call small rural health services – I think we’re the largest one in terms of income, about $60 million a year comes in.” The new networks will involve improving access to specialist care and strengthening referral pathways, as well as establishing shared payroll and IT systems. “We’re not against amalgamations per se. We’re a product of a number of amalgamations over the years, so we’ll continue to be open-minded,” Mr Dodds said. “We’ll continue to try and provide great care to every person every time, that’s our stated purpose, and also make our health service a great place to work for everyone.” Continued page 3
IN THIS ISSUE • Monitor appointed to Horsham council • National Skills Week • Wimmera River parkrun milestone Phone: 03 5382 1351 Read it online: www.theweeklyadvertiser.com.au
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