Leura Aged Care Camperdown. One of South West Healthcare's latest achievements includes the new build residential aged care centre- which had been a centrepiece for the former strategic plan.
The five-year plan responds directly to growing demand for healthcare services and changing community needs. It focuses on improving access to specialist care, expanding services delivered locally, and ensuring the health service remains sustainable into the future. This provides the foundation to deliver more services and care in alignment with the completion of the $396M Warrnambool Base Hospital redevelopment.
The strategy was shaped through extensive consultation with staff, consumers, partners, and the broader community, including 299 staff survey responses, 107 community responses, and 155 participants across 24 consultation sessions.
Chief Executive Craig Fraser said the plan reflects what the community has been clear about — timely access to care, strong local services, and a workforce that is supported to deliver safe, high-quality care providing great experiences with the community who come in contact with us.
“This plan sets an ambitious but practical direction for the next five years,” Mr Fraser said.
“It focuses on the things that matter most to our community — shorter wait times, better access to specialist services, connecting our healthcare landscape and care that is delivered closer to home wherever possible.”
Mr Fraser said a key focus of the strategy is reducing the need for patients to leave the region for care.
“We know people want to receive care close to family, close to support networks, and close to home,” he said. “We do a good job already but we aim to do much more.”
Another important focus is also advocacy for the region and for rural healthcare generally: “We need to challenge some of the preconceptions that people have about rural healthcare. A great example of that is through our clinical trials team more people are getting onto research driven trials that are often reserved for metropolitan people who can travel. Creating a space for regional patients to be involved in trials and to lend their unique perspective to the development of medicines and models of care, means that rural patients aren’t left behind- we need to close the gap and ensure that rural patients can expect the same positive outcomes as those living in urban centres,” says Fraser. “We will continue to champion regional and rural voices in healthcare.”
Board Chair Allison Patchett said the strategy positions South West Healthcare to meet increasing demand while maintaining a strong focus on safety, quality, and sustainability.
“Our community expects safe, reliable, and compassionate care,” Ms Patchett said.
“This plan gives us a clear path forward and ensures we continue to strengthen services for our region now and into the future.”
“Many people think of South West Healthcare as the Warrnambool Base Hospital or the Camperdown Hospital – but we’re not. We aren’t just a hospital, we are a fully-fledged health service with mental health facilities, community and allied health services, residential aged care and a GP clinic. South West Healthcare is growing to meet the needs of our community. Looking back it’s also gratifying to see how far we’ve come and some of the amazing things we’ve achieved in the last 5 years,” says Fraser.
Implementation of the Strategic Plan is already underway, with progress to be monitored and reported regularly to staff, partners, and the community.
To read the full strategic direction click here.