Rural Northwest Health has committed to continuing to provide its community and teams safe, quality care, strong leadership, positive culture, and effective financial management, recently signing its 2024-25 Statement of Priorities with the Department of Health.
RNH Board Chair Dr John Aitken and CEO Jenni Masters met with Western Health Services and Aged Care Executive Director Janelle Hearn in Ballarat on November 15 to sign the Statement of Priorities (SoP).
The SoP are the key accountability agreements between the State Government and Victorian publicly funded health, mental health and ambulance services. The SoP is consistent with an organisations’ strategic plans and align to government policy directions and priorities.
Also forming part of the SoP are the commitments to: operate within a budget, improve access to healthcare and wellbeing, build a stronger workforce, and move from competition to collaboration via information sharing.
Setting out its focus areas for the year ahead, the Department of Health will target finance, cultural safety and training and engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, gender equality, and the creation of Regional Health Networks.
“John and I were pleased to have an opportunity to speak about the positive work that RNH is doing, including the changes we’ve made, and the hire and retention of our great staff,” Ms Masters said.
“It was a positive day and further cemented that things are going really well for us as an organisation,” she said.
Dr Aitken said: “It was great for Jenni and I to meet with Janelle, and acting Western Services Director Judy Perkins, to discuss the priorities, opportunities, and some of the challenges for RNH in the coming year.”
“We look forward to more discussions as we prepare for the Regional Health Network implementation and develop a new strategic plan for RNH in 2025,” he said.