SWAN Hill District Health (SHDH) chief executive Peter Abraham says the past year has been one of many significant challenges brought about by what “we hope to be, a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic”.
“Throughout the past year, SHDH has committed to meeting the health care needs and service demands of the community through the provision of effective and high-quality health services that achieve broad and effective health outcomes for our catchment community,” he said in SHDH’s 2021 annual report.
“SHDH has an ‘experienced’-led approach to the provision of care and services through the development of key core values that supports the community’s expectations.
“The values of compassion, accountability, inclusion and progress underpin our approach to the delivery of safe, effective and holistic care.”
Mr Abraham said in the past year, SHDH has been challenged to provide strong leadership and commitment to the COVID pandemic response.
“Protecting the community from COVID has been, and continues to be, a priority of our team,” he said.
“The board is proud of the efforts of our local health service’s response and also, in its support of our neighbouring health services in our local regional area.
“We have continued to strengthen our governance systems, and further consolidated our strong partnerships with our neighbouring regional health services to deliver a shared services approach to care.”
Mr Abraham said the board had worked to develop its future strategy based around the purpose to provide the community with a “connected care experience designed to deliver the best experience possible”.
“Through the pandemic, SHDH has continued its focus in ensuring that the quality and safety processes that oversee our clinical care services are robust and effective in their review and ongoing provision of care,” he said.
“This is achieved through such initiatives as an external clinical service review program; the setting of tolerance and control measures for key performance indicators reporting through the clinical governance dashboard, and the use of patient stories of their experience to improve the care and services we provide.”
SHDH also welcomed the National Standards on Safety and Quality in Healthcare review team who undertook a comprehensive accreditation survey.
Mr Abraham said at this survey, SHDH achieved full compliance with all 10 national standards with no recommendations for improvement forthcoming.
He also acknowledged the SHDH ladies auxiliary for not only their continued financial support of SHDH, but also their contribution to the continued success of the op-shop.
Also recognised was the work of the hospice committee and the many other community groups who contributed and donated to SHDH in support.
SHDH also received the “wonderful and long-awaited news” of a funding allocation of $18.7 million from the State Government, together with the federal funding allocation of $30 million, for a new emergency department development to be completed in early 2023.
