Executive team speaks on launch day for Grampians Health Service

The health service's board chair Bill Brown and interim chief executive Dale Fraser visited Wimmera Base Hospital to launch the new health entity, and outlined some of the group's priorities into the future.

Mr Brown, who comes to the board chair role after experience at South West Health in Warrnambool, said the new board would look to have its first meeting in "a matter of weeks if not days,".

The first meeting of the board would set the health service's planning in progress, with two key strategies, the clinical service model and strategic plan, to dictate Grampians Health's development across the next 10 years.

Mr Brown said community engagement would be key throughout the process of strategic planning.

"What we will be directing the attention of our minds to is the growth and the service to better service the communities that are in our coverage.

"Both of those processes will involve engagement with our communities, and we invite our communities to provide ideas and to get involved. That is what we want, for communities to get involved.

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"It is important for us that we hear, listen, work with and act on what we hear from our communities. That is the bigger picture."

Mr Fraser said the day-to-day business of healthcare across the service's sites would remain unchanged, however looked to start conversations between the four services.

"Bringing first-class rural health care to our communities has been one of the goals of this venture. Leveraging each other's capacities and bringing a selective focus and energy on high quality clinical care," he said.

"Day-by-day things like linen and food will continue in that vein. There are a series of conversations which are going on with staff at the various four health services, whether it is our aged care people working with each other to try and understand the opportunities that exist with four providers of aged care, or whether it is the staff in HR or finance.

"All of those staff-to-staff conversations are underway as we speak, working through those opportunities."

Mr Fraser said the group's clinical service plan would address some of the service gaps in the existing health services in places such as pathology and surgery.

"The services plan will help define specifically the needs and gaps. We are already starting to have that conversation," he said.

"Our Head of Surgery is coming up here to meet with the various folk here to have those conversations to see what the long-term, short-term needs are going to be.

"Certainly pathology is core to good clinical practice, so if there are gaps there then we need to work to address that and see what we can do in that regard."

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The plan will also identify health priorities for the different communities underneath the Grampians Health banner, and guide capital investment spending.

To assist in the required foundational work, Grampian's Health will look to establish community advisory groups in each site of the health service.

Mr Brown said the advisory groups would be given the opportunity to provide feedback on services, and hold the health service to account.

"We think as a board we are going to be accountable, not just to Spring Street, but for everyone in our local communities.

"Everyone is going to have a voice. That doesn't end with our service planning process, it doesn't end with our strategic planning process, it goes on daily, weekly, weekly.

"We want to hear if there are issues, we want to hear about the good things. We have a continuing theme day-by-day, week-by-week, year-by-year. That is our commitment."

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