LOCAL hospitals are bracing themselves for an announcement, expected in December but likely to come early in the New Year, of the biggest-ever shake-up to hospital management and operations.
The decision is set to prove crucial for the flow of public patients from South Gippsland and Bass Coast and for the local hospital workforce.
The issue was the elephant in the room at the annual general meeting for Gippsland Southern Health Service at Leongatha last Thursday.
A feature of the announcement will be the establishment of the new Local Health Service Networks across the state, including Barwon South West, Grampians, Loddon Mallee, Hume and Gippsland.
The State Government is keen to follow the recommendations of the Expert Advisory Committee, contained in its ‘Health Services Plan’, formally released in August this year, but completed last April, where Bass Coast Health (BCH), Gippsland Southern Health Service (GSHS) and South Gippsland Hospital at Foster join a Gippsland network in which management and service is dominated by Latrobe Regional Hospital.
The establishment of a network board and appointment of a network CEO are among the proposals.
GSHS has submitted a dissenting view, seeking to retain links with Bass Coast Health, Foster and Koo Wee Rup hospitals in a group that includes high-level services from Nepean Health.
However, one of the key findings of the expert panel is that regional networks need to have populations of more than 200,000 to develop the scale and capability to meet most of the care needs of their local communities.
“The Gippsland Network is proposed to serve a population exceeding 250,000 people, which meets the threshold scale to meaningfully support population health outcomes.”
According to the 2021 Census, Bass Coast has a permanent population of 40,789 and South Gippsland 30,577. Their absence from a Gippsland network would make it unviable.
A network plan which links Bass Coast in particular, to LRH in Traralgon, and not Frankston, Dandenong or Monash Clayton, has already attracted public criticism. These comments on the Sentinel-Times’ Facebook page this week:
* West Gippsland Regional Hospital at Warragul should be with Latrobe. They are closer than us here in Wonthaggi and the Island. Which bureaucrat came up with the ideas for the networks? Did they drop a pin on a map – have no understanding of the regional areas at all.
* Why would anyone on the island want to travel to Latrobe when Peninsula is closer and an easier drive?
South Gippsland Hospital at Foster is supportive of the plan, joining a network which includes Bairnsdale Regional Health Service, Bass Coast Health, Central Gippsland Health Service, Gippsland
Southern Health Service, Latrobe Regional Hospital (LRH), Omeo District Health, Orbost Regional Health, and Yarram & District Health Service.
Under that scenario, West Gippsland Hospital (Warragul) would be linked to Monash Health with hospitals at Dandenong and Clayton, and Koo Wee Rup Regional Health Service with the Peninsula Health group.
The sticking point is the proximity for patients of Bass Coast Health, with hospitals at Wonthaggi and Cowes, and Gippsland Southern Health Service, with hospitals at Korumburra and Leongatha, to major Melbourne metro hospitals including Dandenong Hospital, Monash Medical Centre and Frankston Hospital with whom these hospitals have established links.
The local hospitals have already been advised of the Health Department’s preferred model for a Gippsland-wide Local Health Service Network, giving them until December 6 to propose a different scenario.
GSHS has already presented its case to retain links with nearby metro fringe hospitals. It is not known whether Bass Coast Health has done likewise, although this may become clearer at their AGM this Thursday, December 5, when the board will also introduce new Interim CEO, Professor Simone Alexander, currently Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer at Alfred Health, who started her new role on Monday.
At last week’s GSHS AGM, both the board chair Athina Georgiou and chief executive officer Louise Sparkes referred to the imminent announcement of the hospital reforms.
“We have been participating in the regional planning and are eagerly awaiting the government announcement,” said Ms Georgiou.
Ms Sparkes said the reforms had the potential to “bring enormous benefits for our health service”.
Asked after the meeting if she was hopeful of achieving an outcome which retained links with Bass Coast Health and Peninsula Health, Ms Sparkes simply referred the ‘Sentinel-Times’ to details in the Health Services Plan.
While a plan to deliver a full suite of health services close to home in all regions of the state is the goal, the increasing cost of service and staffing problems, including competition for scarce clinical personnel within regions, are driving the changes.
Locally, Bass Coast Health has reported an operating deficit of $3.233 million on a budget of almost $170 million, Gippsland Southern Health Service an operating deficit of $1.933 million and South Gippsland Hospital, a surplus of $94,229, as compared to a $160,022 deficit last year.
But it’s at the metro hospitals where the blowout is most pronounced, with 52 of the 68 health services which recently tabled their annual reports, for the 2023-24 year, recording deficits, totalling more than $1 billion.
Among the worst offenders were Monash Health $321M, Northern Health $116M, Western Health $105M, Eastern Health $100M, Austin Health $71M and Peninsula Health $59M.