Expert views help shape the service model for community hospitals

‘Health services together under one roof’, ‘improved partnerships’ and ‘community involvement’ – are some of the valuable ideas we’ve heard as we continue our planning work for community hospitals.

Over 100 experts shared their knowledge of healthcare at a series of workshops across Victoria last month at Sunshine Hospital, Cranbourne Integrated Care Centre and Northern Hospital.

Local health, community and social service providers explored how community hospitals can be designed to address current health service demands and gaps. They also gave ideas about how health and social services can work differently to provide people with better access to healthcare.

Key ideas

Workshop participants identified a range of priorities including:

• Define the scope of services between providers. This will improve how services work together and remove barriers.
• Create strong partnerships between the education, not-for-profit, and health sectors. This will encourage empowered local engagement.
• Adopt flexible service delivery methods including telehealth, after-hours services and co-location. This will provide valuable person-centred care.

Next steps

We’re using this feedback, along with a range of other views we’ve gathered, to shape how community hospitals will operate. You will hear more in early 2020 when we release an engagement report and our ‘operating framework’.

More information

Learn more about community hospitals via our dedicated program page.