News

It was terrific to have Professor Shelley Dolan, Chief Executive of the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), alongside members of her team at Albury Wodonga Health yesterday as we continue strengthening our shared commitment to delivering high-quality care closer to home for our Border community.

At the heart of this partnership is system stewardship - a collaborative and connected approach that strengthens how we can together, support our community to access the right care, at the right time, closer to home.

Work is well underway across the region in implementing the Victorian Government’s Health Service Plan reforms.  Three key pillars of the reform include:

• Establishing the Hume Local Health Service Network – a geographic grouping of 12 health services in the Hume Region responsible for planning and managing care so that it meets the population health needs of our communities living across the region.
• Formalised relationships between the Hume Local Health Service Network and a women's, a children's, and a tertiary hospital, ensuring every Victorian has seamless access to specialist care and expertise when they need it.
• A Victorian Role Delineation Framework, which supports safe and high quality care through setting out the roles and responsibilities of the different types of health service sites across the Hume Local Health Service Network

Our collaboration is already delivering tangible outcomes through:

• Improving access and patient flow pathways between regional and metropolitan health services to enable timely access to specialist care
• Research participation that can shape the way we provide services into the future and improve access for all members of the community 
• Expanding non-emergency patient transport services to improve efficiency and effectiveness between Melbourne and the Hume Region 
• Strengthening quality and safety across our service through meaningful collaboration across various clinical teams
• Progressing the current Virtual Hospitals pilot, enabling patients to access specialist neurological care without leaving the region
• Strengthening workforce development, including expanded training and experience pathways; mentoring; clinical rotations; etc.
• Strengthening areas of self-sufficiency (capacity and capability) with a particular focus on renal care over the next 12-24 months. 

"The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Albury Wodonga Health have built an enduring and mutually beneficial partnership over the last few years that is bringing genuine innovation to regional healthcare," said Bill Appleby, Albury Wodonga Health CEO. "Having the RMH team here on the ground is incredibly valuable for our staff, in strengthening and focusing our efforts collectively, to ensure we continue to design and deliver services that meet the needs of our community".  

Professor Dolan said the partnership with AWH reflects a shared commitment to improving access to specialist care across regional Victoria.

"We are proud to share the expertise of our Royal Melbourne Hospital staff with our services partners in the Hume Local Health Service Network, and to strengthen collaboration at every step of the patient journey." 

This work directly supports the regional vision of the Health Services Plan of the Victorian Department of Health, ensuring stronger regional networks, improving access to specialist care, and delivering more connected care for communities across Victoria.