Committee For Lorne: Lorne Community Hospital – Latest on Our Integration Project

Last week, Marg Cartledge, Board Member of Lorne Community Hospital and Kate Gillan, CEO of LCH, addressed the Committee for Lorne Luncheon to provide an update on their progress on an integration project with Otway Health which was initiated earlier this year.

Back in February, Chairman of the Board, Damien Smith reported: “The Boards of Management of Lorne Community Hospital and Otway Health have now formally committed to exploring further opportunities for sharing of resources and potential partnership in new health initiatives.

This would build on a strong recent history of successful collaboration between the health services such as our current shared CEO, social worker, exercise physiology, project coordinator, post-bushfire mental health services in Wye River and Separation Creek, and common involvement in a grant to support chronic illness.

The communities of Lorne and Apollo Bay belong to isolated coastal villages on a busy tourist route with extreme seasonal population shifts and as a result, face similar challenges relating to accessibility and range of services available, and sustainability of highly qualified staff.”

Lorne Community Hospital and Otway Health CEO, Kate Gillan said, “Our communities are responding to current challenges faced by regional and rural health services, so it’s important to ensure we build a strong health system for the future.”

The following is a summary of Marg Cartledge’s and Kate Gillan’s presentation at last week’s luncheon.

Background
Lorne Community Hospital (LCH) is unusual in that the service is named for its hospital (like Portland and Casterton). Otway Health(OH) is like most other services and named for its region (Apollo Bay and Otways) rather than its hospital. That distinction aside, LCH and OH have many similarities in coastal location, population size and seasonal variation, clinical challenges, and service delivery and workforce needs.

What has happened since our last conversation?
A great deal has happened. Experienced, independent analysts have had a good look at both Lorne Community Hospital (LCH) and Otway Health (OH), and reported back with authoritative and thoughtful summaries of facts, qualitative observations and recommendations for improvements.

Importantly, and not surprisingly, their findings and recommendations are that both Lorne and Apollo Bay need their own local hospital providing, just as they do now, Urgent, Acute and Residential Aged Care. So, from a hospital perspective it should be business as usual in both towns.

Did they find areas for collaboration or integration?
Yes, they did, and it is quite exciting. Firstly, there are huge benefits to both services from an integration and consolidation of GP services at several locations along the coast. Secondly, closer collaboration on community health care would enable an increase in the range and quality of services at both towns, especially Lorne which would benefit from Apollo Bay’s longer and wider experience in that area.

What happens next?
So far, the process has been one of discovery. In order to formally integrate services, we now need a process that is very purposeful and with clearly stated outcomes/objectives. So we are finalising a formal memorandum that sets out what each service brings to the table and what we expect to achieve through collaboration. It will also look at some operational issues, compliance and financial aspects.

Notwithstanding the formalities, because the benefits are so profound and immediately doable, we have already commenced integration of GP services. Dr Dave Mullen from our Lorne practice is now seeing patients at Apollo Bay and new doctors and registrars have been recruited to come on stream in the next months. Doctors are excited about being part of a team where they have back-up, where they can share and grow expertise, and which offers sustainability for a career in rural medicine.

Has the community feedback been positive?
As you know, we are trying very hard to be inclusive and transparent and community consultation has commenced in both towns to gauge community attitudes, sensitivities, wants, concerns and so on. To date the feedback is very positive. We encourage anyone who is curious to attend our ‘tea talks’ and discover first-hand what health services along our Great Ocean Road might look like in the future.

Lorne Community Hospital