Thanks to those who were able to join us on 23 February to kick off the Rural Regional Roundtable (RRR) series for 2023. We would like to extend our thanks to Louise McKinlay, A/Deputy Secretary Commissioning and System Improvement, for joining the conversation and highlighting key priorities for the Department of Health in 2023 and beyond – and to our members for shaping the Q&A with poignant questions.
Our roundtable events are an integral opportunity for members to shape our direction. We heard strong priorities for members around aged care, collaboration, local governance, workforce training and capital investment. We will be developing a report that captures the key themes of conversation which will act as the foundation for our agenda for a new term of government.
We appreciate members' insights and guidance to shape and drive our policy and advocacy activities. There was rich and frank discussion about the challenges facing the sector, resulting in a mandate to prioritise three advocacy aims:
We have developed a member report that summarises the Department of Health presentation, VHA policy insights, member conversation, and advocacy aims. The report can be found here.
From June 2023, the VHA will be hitting the road to visit our rural and regional members and hold locally focused conversations. Members that would like to provide further feedback or express and interest in hosting the VHA at their service can contact Keera Weise, Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor.
Following past meetings where we articulated the systemic challenges impacting the sector, including workforce and infrastructure, health board directors, executives and senior leaders from rural and regional VHA member organisations joined our third RRR (on 21 June 2022) to bring these collective insights together to refine our rural and regional policy platform. Attendees were invited to summarise the key challenges faced by the sector, explore policy solutions, and prioritise the VHA’s advocacy agenda for the Victorian election and beyond.
Click here for a summary of the roundtable.
April 2022
The VHA developed a report exploring the complex challenges of workforce by drawing on both academic evidence and the collective insights of over 50 senior leaders from across health services in rural and regional Victoria.
This April 2022 report outlines the chronic and unique workforce challenges faced by rural and regional health services that are exacerbated by geographical location and scale of service. Challenges include housing availability, flexible workforce models, and competitive remuneration which create added complexity to recruitment and retention.
Policy ideas can be gleaned from the report’s case studies highlighting innovations that seek to both stimulate workforce pathways and protect the current pool of staff.
Click here to read the report.
At the first roundtable meeting, members identified that workforce was the greatest pressure on the health system. As such, the second forum (on 15 February 2022) focused on helping services navigate short-term workforce shortages exacerbated by the omicron outbreak, as well as longstanding workforce issues. Attendees were invited to explore potential solutions and help shape the VHA’s support and advocacy efforts.
Members were joined by VHA Deputy Board Chair and CEO of West Wimmera Health Service, Trevor Adem, and Alpine Health CEO, Nick Shaw, for an interactive session exploring system challenges and testing potential policy solutions.
Key themes that emerged included:
Click here to read a summary of this roundtable.
For our first meeting (on 13 October 2021), rural and regional health board directors, executives, and senior leaders from across the state joined virtual discussions on readiness and resilience as the health system prepares for the COVID-19 peak.
We summarised key themes from the session in this article and the information collected around COVID-19 preparedness will assist in applying a strong rural and regional lens to our ‘Navigating COVID peak’ advocacy work.
We would like to thank Chris Hotham, Deputy Secretary for Health Infrastructure, for his time and sharing his insights from the Department of Health. We would also like to thank our members for their engagement and support to help shape policy and advocacy efforts – especially during such a busy time. Workforce was a strong theme that came through and will a key topic on the agenda for the RRR series.