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The Board of Grampians Health outlined the organisation’s achievements over the past year and highlighted its future plans and priorities at the 2021-22 annual general meeting on Wednesday February 22 at Stawell.

Grampians Health was formed on November 1, 2021 following the amalgamation of Edenhope & District Memorial Hospital, Stawell Regional Health, Ballarat Health Services, and Wimmera Health Care Group with the goal of providing high quality and safe care to people across the Grampians region.

As part of our commitment to report back to the communities, Grampians Health released a Twelve Months On report during the annual general meeting. The latest report details our progress on the goals that were set out during its formation and follows on from our Six Months On report released last year. To read the Twelve Months On report of Grampians Health, click here.

In his address, Grampians Health Board Chair Bill Brown said that since its formation the health service has provided exemplary care to the community throughout the COVID pandemic and continues to do so.

“This care has seen our community achieving some of the highest level of second and third dose vaccination rates, providing tremendous protection for our community,” he said.

“COVID has however caused substantial challenges to how we have delivered our services and placed incredible pressure on our workforce. The impact on our team cannot be understated and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our nearly 7,000 staff for the work they do day in day out to protect our community.

“It will take a considerable period of time to return to “normal” operations, but we have already begun this journey. Indeed, what was once considered “normal” may not be normal into the future.”

Some of the achievements of Grampians Health over the past year includes the launch of the Strategic Plan and a comprehensive Clinical Services Plan, which would guide our vision and service delivery for the years to come.

Guided by these plans, we have made significant progress in delivering some of the services.

In the past year alone, Grampians Health commenced work on projects worth more than $70m across its sites. This investment reflects a commitment to investing in the capacity, at each of our sites, to ensure that the services are local and accessible.

Some of these projects include an $800,000 upgrade to the urgent care centre at Edenhope to enable local residents to access quality care, launch of staff accommodation and site infrastructure works at Horsham, theatre upgrade works at Stawell to boost overnight stays and increase the amount of day surgeries, and commencement of an Early Parenting Centre at Ballarat, where families can seek support for their young children, when previously they had to travel to Melbourne.

Grampians Health is also carrying out the $541m Ballarat Base Hospital redevelopment project, which has progressed over the past year and remains on track for completion in 2027.

We aim to build on these achievements for the next 12 months and plan to further progress on the Strategic Plan and the Clinical Services Plan.

“Over the course of the next 12 months we will continue to drive the opportunities we now have available to us as the one of the largest regional health services in Australia,” said Mr Brown.

“Our focus will continue to be centred around increasing accessibility of care for our community, sustaining and growing our workforce and being a valued collaborator and partner across the Grampians region.”