This consultancy required the development of a service plan to assist the New South Wales and Victorian governments to decide upon a model for health service delivery to the Albury-Wodonga community.
The service plan identified:
- The scope of the health service needs of the catchment area and provided accurate benchmarking with communities of a comparable demographic.
- Options for maximising facility usage to meet agreed health needs.
- Detailed service delivery outputs required to meet health service needs for the present and for the future.
- Opportunities for improved service delivery resulting from better coordination of management of services.
- Issues relating to the implementation of the proposed changes to service delivery.
- Options in terms of possible interim and longer term implementation of change.
- The benefits and disadvantages associated with the models proposed.
The project required extensive consultation with:
- The Albury-Wodonga community including local government authorities
- The local Division of General Practice
- Clinicians practicing at both Albury and Wodonga hospitals
- Allied health professionals operating both within the two hospitals and the community
- Nursing staff at both sites
- Accident and Emergency physicians
- Ambulance services on both the NSW and Victorian sides of the border
- Other benchmark health services for purposes of comparing service availability and efficiency.