The entire July 14, 2021 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!

By Dean Lawson

Increasing accessibility to medical services, decreasing a need for patients to travel, providing professional development for staff and attracting and retaining specialists are at the core of a regional health-service merger decision.

The leaders of four western Victorian health-service boards, including three operating in the Wimmera, strongly believe all will happen under a new overarching body.

They also listed improving governance and operational efficiencies as other benefits motivating the move.

They announced on Friday a proposal to join Ballarat Health Services, Wimmera Health Care Group, Stawell Regional Health and Edenhope and District Memorial Hospital to create one body.

Board chairs Marie Aitken, Wimmera, Rhian Jones, Stawell, Philip Sabien, Edenhope, and Natalie Reiter, Ballarat, each spoke strongly during a joint online media conference in favour of the move.

They drew a picture of regional health-service opportunity and progress under the scheme, while providing assurances plans would provide far-reaching overall benefits without changing community connectivity and avoiding ‘net’ job losses.

The group announced it would now send the proposal, as per The Health Act involving voluntary amalgamation rules, to the Department of Health Secretary and ultimately Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley for consideration.

The media conference accompanied a joint statement that outlined how the proposal was designed to ‘deliver better health outcomes for our communities now and into the future’.

The statement showed –

“While the department reviews the proposal, all four health services are continuing extensive engagement with staff and the community on top of the community engagement which has already occurred in each local community. 

“A new, combined health service would have the scale to shape a better health system for all parts of the Wimmera and Grampians region. 

“In the proposed structure, all services will continue to deliver health care to their communities. The proposal would enable the provision of safe, connected and people-centred health care, closer to home. There will be significant opportunities for sharing resources and working together, creating career pathways while providing more services locally and reducing the need for patients to travel. 

“Staff and community engagement across all four communities has helped define clear commitments should the proposal proceed.

“These are that under the new, combined health service each of the four health services will continue to provide public health care for their respective catchment areas; retain hospital names and identities; Edenhope, Stawell, Horsham and Dimboola and Ballarat district patients will continue to access care from their own hospitals; a new management board will have appropriate skills and district representation; there would be no loss of services at any of the services; no job losses; and past and future fundraising would be tied to specific communities and purposes for which they were designed.”

Wimmera chair Marie Aitken said in the statement: “Should approval be given, it will create better services for our patients and career opportunities for staff and support enhanced health and wellbeing for our communities. 

“After extensive consultation with the other boards, the community and staff, I am confident about the future of health care for our local area and the region. The new entity will have the scale to shape a better health system for all parts of the Wimmera and Grampians region, enabling safer, connected and people-centred health care, closer to home.”

She added later, “Despite best efforts in our part of the state, we face much worse health outcomes than many other Victorians. Some cancer rates up to 50 percent higher than other parts of Victoria. Diabetes is 30 percent higher than city counterparts. These are dreadful statistics. 

“At WHCG we’ve decided not to stand back and ignore this data, not to keep doing what we’ve always been doing because that isn’t working.

“Through extensive community consultation we’ve learnt our community wants to access more services in their home towns. We know our community is travelling more for medical care and we also know, which is more worrying, that more people opt not to travel because it is just too hard.

“Through consultation we’ve also learnt about the community’s health priorities and these include mental-health and maternity services, chronic-disease management, in-home care, dental, orthopaedic, paediatric, heart-disease and cancer services. These are realistic expectations for our community to receive these services or most of them close to home. 

“Access to specialists and other health-care providers means this has become increasingly challenging. By becoming part of a large entity we will be able to scale up, making a range of specialist appointments available.

“This exciting proposal will also have a knock-on effect, making our beautiful Wimmera a more compelling place to live and raise families. This change will set up our health service to provide better care, care people will choose ahead of other options because it is so good. And it will be designed by our community, for our community, for the long-term future.”

Mrs Aitken added she was confident a health-service merger would be different to other government agency restructures that in the past led to diminished Wimmera workforces.

“This is a fundamental system rebuild. I reiterate our determination and commitment to make this successful and to be trailblazers for the Victorian rural health sector.”

Edenhope chair Philip Sabien: “This decision is an important milestone for our four health services. It comes after an extensive decision-making process, including consulting widely across all four communities and undertaking detailed due diligence. We have identified new and practical opportunities to provide more services locally and reduce the need for patients to travel.”

Stawell chair Rhian Jones: “Our community has told us what’s needed to ensure greater health care for the future. 

“A new formalised partnership would mean we could provide better services to our local communities close to home, whilst maintaining our local identity and the sense of community that people value. 

“Should this proceed, it will strengthen our workforce and unlock new opportunities for sharing resources and working together. Together we can achieve so much for our community and the whole region.”

Ballarat chair Natalie Reiter: “Our decision-making process highlighted some of the great things about our services. We have highly skilled and dedicated staff that provide leading healthcare to tens of thousands of patients every year. 

“We have great connections and partnerships with our communities, a proud legacy of care and innovation, and trusted relationships with patients, families, carers, volunteers and other health services in the region. 

“We are committed to a well-planned and resourced implementation process and to including our patients, staff and partners in the decisions that impact them.”

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LETTER: Tick the box exercise