Health Service Planning

The Service Plan sets out Alpine Health’s strategic directions and priorities for the next 5 years from 1 July 2018 – 30 June 2023. It details the level and type of services provided for, and used by the community. It describes the community’s demonstrated health and aged care needs, and how Alpine Health will work (as an organisation and in collaboration with other services) to develop effective integrated health and aged care that will best meet the community’s needs.

This is the seventh Service Plan for Alpine Health. Each Service Plan has been themed.

• Service Plan 4 (2005-2008) Improving Our Health
• Service Plan 5 (2008-2013) Building for the Future
• Service Plan 6 (2013-2018) Keeping Local Services Local

The theme for this Service Plan (2018-2023) is: Investing in Our Health – What Matters.

The Service Plan provides the overarching directions and evidence for service development and delivery over the next five years. It will guide the successive development of more detailed annual Corporate Plans and a number of internal plans (workforce, asset management, community development, marketing and information and communications technology for example) for its implementation.

Framework

The service planning framework used for the development of this Service Plan is based on a model of community needs assessment, organisational capacity assessment and trend analysis to identify service opportunities, and enable the formulation of formulate strategies, for implementation planning and the determination of future resource and capital requirements.

The Service Plan comprises strategies to increase the capability and capacity of Alpine Health to provide sustainable health services to our communities in the future. There were several different quantitative and qualitative approaches used to collect data to identify health needs, support the development of the Service Plan, and inform strategic decision-making.

The strategies have been formulated following:

• extensive consultation with the community, service partners, staff and other key stakeholders
• analysis of population health profiles and projections
• identification of future trends likely to impact on our communities through trend analysis scenario planning
• analysis of current service provision and service networks and partnerships
• identification of service opportunities
• analysis of workforce capacity and capability
• analysis of current infrastructure capacity

Methodology

A Project Control Group was established to oversee the development of the Service Plan, and provide advice, data sources, and feedback.

Community needs assessment was determined through three lenses:

• Statistical and data analysis: service use, community health indicators, population characteristics and changes (needs and gaps)
• Market analysis: government policies and directions; local, sub-regional and regional health system; other service providers (how needs are currently met, priorities, collaborations, service gaps and opportunities)
• Community voice: service use and experience, projected service use, testing the reliability of data with community feedback and system information

The consultation approach was led by and developed with the Community and Health Advisory Groups of Bright, Mount Beauty and Myrtleford. They identified target groups and preferred methods for participation, promoted the community survey, spoke to and engaged with a wide range of community groups and organisations, encouraged respondents to the community survey to ensure a demographic ‘fit’ between respondents and community profile. This consultation was conducted from November 2017 to August 2018.

Stakeholder interviews were conducted by phone and face to face including meetings with the Board Chair and CEO of Alpine Health and Chairs and Senior Executives of Albury Wodonga Health, Beechworth Health, Gateway Health, Murray PHN, and Northeast Health Wangaratta. Interviews were conducted with 65 individuals from service providers, stakeholders and key user groups.

Staff were engaged through an internal survey and workshop. Staff members were actively involved in a scenario planning workshop and future directions forum. Most staff members of Alpine Health are also community members and have valuable professional as well as community/user views and experiences.

Service plan directions were determined through a Future Directions forum conducted in May 2018. Directions were tested against the Scenarios, and then presented to and workshopped with the Alpine Health Board, and three Community and Health Advisory Groups.

The Service Plan (2018-2023): Investing in Our Health – What Matters is available for download below.

Questions?

If you have questions about the Service Plan (2018-2023): Investing in Our Health – What Matters please contact the Office of the CEO on 03 5751 9300 or [email protected].