Grampians Health enhances care options through collaboration
29 November 2024
Grampians Health has benefited from increased collaboration across its sites over the past year, playing a key role in making care more accessible to regional Victorians and increasing care options across the Grampians region.
The Board of Grampians Health outlined the health service’s achievements over the last year and reinforced its commitment to further enhance care as they convened for the 2024 annual general meeting on Wednesday 27 November at Edenhope.
“One of our key priorities when we came together as Grampians Health was to deliver care closer to home and over the past year, I am proud to see the steps we’ve taken to increase our services and provide care that is responsive to local needs,” said Dale Fraser, Chief Executive Officer of Grampians Health.
“The collaboration between our campuses has been instrumental in increasing the range and quality of services we offer. This teamwork ensures that our regional communities have access to the care they need without having to travel long distances.”
Grampians Health achievements in the last year include increased operational governance and oversight across Ballarat and Horsham Intensive Care Units, an expansion of care at home programs to include paediatric care at home, improved allied health services across its sites, and enhanced oncology services across campuses to deliver care closer to home.
It has also made strides in reducing wait times for elective surgery through a two-year elective surgery reform project through the Grampians Region Health Services Partnership. In addition to reducing the wait times, the project has expanded capacity and maximised throughput of surgical services within the Grampians region.
Increased collaboration between Grampians Health campuses has also helped improve access to specialist care to regional communities. A new haematology clinic in Stawell, women’s health clinics in Ballarat, Horsham and Stawell, initiation of weekly visits by geriatricians to Stawell and Horsham and an increased suite of allied health and other support services delivered through Edenhope Health and Wellbeing Hub are all new services that Grampians Health is proud of, Mr Fraser added.
As healthcare needs evolve over time, Grampians Health has also undertaken several projects to improve health outcomes for its communities. An Early Parenting Centre in Ballarat to provide specialist care to parents across the region, a new Emergency Ambulatory Care facility to ease the triage of patients presenting to the Ballarat emergency department and new eco-friendly staff accommodation in Stawell are among those that were completed in the last year.
“These achievements were made possible because of our unified efforts as Grampians Health. Our commitment to working together has not only improved service delivery but also strengthened our ability to respond to the unique needs of our regional population,” said Mr Fraser.
Looking ahead, Grampians Health will also soon launch its Strategic Plan that will outline the health service’s future direction for 2025-2029.
“The inaugural plan provided our direction as we settled into our post-amalgamation way of working, guiding us in forming strong partnerships at the grassroots level to ensure our care is responsive to local needs,” said Mr Fraser.
“Our new plan will provide direction for the coming years as a united health service, preparing for the changing nature of health services, the wider health system and our regional demographic and population requirements.
“We thank our partners, stakeholders and most importantly, our staff, as we tick off a successful year of achievements. The dedication, compassion and hard work shown daily across all our campuses is exceptional, and it is a team that we are truly proud of.”
Grampians Health also took the opportunity to thank its outgoing Chair, Bill Brown for his service following his resignation. The Hon. Rob Knowles AO has been appointed as Interim Chair.