Amalgamation – ‘a process driven by the two health services’

By Kate Taylor and Helen Tatchell

A lot of questions and rumours are doing the rounds in Bacchus Marsh after the announcement that a merger between Djerriwarrh Health and Western Health is being considered.
Last year, the state Government announced Western Health, which runs the Footscray and Sunshine hospitals, and the new Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital, would become the operator of the future Melton hospital.
Vital planning work will determine the new 24-hour Melton hospital’s location and size, and the range of services it will provide – it will also look at how it will link into services at other public hospitals in the Western suburbs.
Initial planning for the Melton hospital is underway and master planning will follow when a principal consultant is appointed early in 2020.
The state government says the Western Health Board and Djerriwarrh Health Service’s Administrator Dr John Ballard agreed to explore the best possible options for delivering healthcare in Melbourne’s West – including the potential benefits of a voluntary amalgamation, given the upcoming changes.
Under the Health Services Act an amalgamation would need to be voluntary and agreed between boards and it would also have to benefit the community – any proposal for voluntary amalgamation must be submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services for Secretary review and subsequent approval by the Minister for Health.
Meanwhile, there has been a $10.6 million upgrade of maternity services and expansion of operating theatres at Djerriwarrh Health Services in Bacchus Marsh.
But the move isn’t enough to assure locals about the security of their jobs, or the medical services that are provided to them.
Mayor David Edwards told the Moorabool News he would love to see more information provided on the issue.
“While the health care itself isn’t a council service, the feedback I have been getting from residents is that they are severely concerned about the lack of consultation – they believe that job losses have already started to happen and that there will be a reduction in services. There’s a lot of rumours, but there’s not a lot of practical information being provided, he said.
“We’ll be advocating strongly that we should have an increase in jobs in Bacchus Marsh, not decreased, and that we need increased services not a decrease in services.
“The loss of 150 jobs to this shire means a lot. Clearly the government doesn’t care whether they win our seats because they’re taking away jobs through the hospitals, with no public consultation,” he said.
Speaking to the Moorabool News at the opening of the new ambulance station in Bacchus Marsh, Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos was on the front-foot about how the potential amalgamation would be a voluntary one and that there would be “extensive community consultation”.
“Firstly, there has been no proposal that has been developed or that I’ve received to date,” the Minister began.
“It was really as a result of us announcing that Western Health would run the new hospital in Melton that the two health services started to consider the idea of an amalgamation.
She said that any proposal would ultimately come before her for approval.
“I’d be expecting to see extensive community consultation and extensive consultation with staff before we would consider any voluntary amalgamation. I’d also be looking for no reduction in services for the local community.”
She also noted that sometimes smaller rural health services, such as DjHS, struggle to attract specialist staff to come and work for them and that having a larger health service, such as Western Health, ‘standing behind them’ can mean that there are more opportunities to have specialists do outreach work at the smaller sites.
“But that’s up to the two health services to do that work, to go out to their communities and discuss the benefits of an amalgamation.”
Also speaking to the Moorabool News at the opening of the ambulance station, DjHS CEO Belinda Scott said an amalgamation would be a multi-step process beginning with a report on the benefits and risks to the community of an amalgamation – and that discussions with groups such as the “amazing Ladies Auxiliary” have already begun.
“I advised them in December that we would need to consider amalgamation,” she said.
A spokesperson for DjHS said public consultation began on Monday 10 February and will continue through to March.
“From last Friday, community members can also visit a microsite which will outline the process and timeline and, will provide a platform for community input. We will also utilise social media to engage a cross section of the community.”
Western Health and Djerriwarrh already share services, have overlapping boundaries and are increasingly interdependent.
“Together they service the healthcare needs of nearly 985,000 Victorians and employ more than 7600 people from a dozen existing care campuses,” the spokesperson told the Moorabool News.
With a population growth rate of more than three per cent year-on-year, Melbourne’s West to Bacchus Marsh and beyond will need more services, more skills, more people working in healthcare, more health infrastructure.”
The DjHS spokesperson confirmed “under any option, there will be no reductions in overall staffing numbers.
“As the population continues to grow, there will be greater need to deliver more care, closer to where people live – therefore more clinicians needed to service the West.”