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 developed identified:

• The scope of the health service needs of the catchment area and provided accurate benchmarking with communities with comparable demographics
• 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 practising 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.