CANCER AND THE TIMMERA͗ A DISCUSSION TITH PETER MAC͛S DR DASID SPEAKMAN
LIVE WEBINAR WEDNESDAY 24 FEBRUARY, 7PM
Thanks for feedback
SIR, – We thank the community for participating in consultation opportunities as Wimmera Health Care Group explores partnership options with Ballarat Health Services.
We are also very pleased to have Edenhope and District Memorial Hospital join the project and begin community consultation about what the priorities and opportunities are for their health service.
We have heard from the community that the consultation period needed to be extended and we have done that.
All community members are encouraged to send through any submissions or feedback to partnering@whcg.org.au.
The board is undertaking this project to look at ways to further enhance the partnerships between the health services to provide safe and accessible care closer to home.
Any partnership options being explored would focus on enhancing service delivery and creating better health outcomes for local people across the Wimmera. There would be no loss of services.
The community has participated in a range of consultation activities during the past three months – from October 30 to February 15.
We have engaged with more than 1000 people through consultation sessions – online and in-person; surveys; meetings with individuals, key groups and organisations; pop-up stands; submissions and feedback forms.
It has been great to hear the views of a wide range of community and team members about their priorities for the future of health services, and the opportunities and challenges of forming a partnership or voluntary amalgamation.
In the coming weeks, we will be meeting with a number of specific groups about their needs and we will be talking with communities through more pop-up stands.
We will share what we have heard from the community through a consultation report in the next few weeks.
A due-diligence assessment is being undertaken in relation to workforce, financial, service delivery and governance impacts of any partnership.
Challenges we need to address are – • People are travelling great distances to get the health care they need, and this should be provided close to home. • Wimmera residents experience higher levels of chronic illness and ill health compared with the rest of rural and metropolitan Victoria. The population is ageing and will need greater access to health care. More services are needed. • Attracting and retaining health care professionals – workforce/specialists – is becoming increasingly difficult, with gaps in a few critical clinical areas. • We need to strengthen capability – with the right support, we can increase capability to deliver more services locally, at Horsham and across the region for the future. • Exploring options is important to ensure the sustainability of health services for the future. Issues such as workforce shortages, financial constraint, infrastructure limitations and increasing governance expectations and obligations have been pressing issues for some years. The current approach to healthcare governance and service delivery is unsustainable and requires change.
Community feedback
A comprehensive report will be prepared. Some examples of themes that have been coming out of the consultation include: • Improved services such as: mental health, maternity, chronic-illness support, dental, in-home care, orthopaedic surgeons, paediatrics, heart and cancer services, and the ability to be treated at Horsham. • Better access to health care locally without having to travel. • Safe and effective health services for the future and long-term sustainability. • More services, broader range of services, improved services and reduced wait times. • Strengthened workforce with more training/development, increased skills and capacity and career opportunities. • More jobs/staff to address shortages. • More and a greater variety of doctors and specialists.
• New buildings and more high-technology equipment locally. • Expanded emergency department and operating suite. • A new aged-care facility and more agedcare services. • A new mental-health facility. • More telehealth, supported by experts. • More funding and beds. • Better referral pathways and processes.
Facts
Topics have been raised at consultation sessions and we have advised the following: • A decision has not been made on a partnership or a voluntary amalgamation.
With any partnership/options being explored, please note: • There will be no loss of services. Health services will be enhanced and clinical services will increase to meet the needs of our community. The focus is on attracting additional specialists, doctors and staff to address gaps and provide more services. • Services will be local. Local hospitals will remain in place with local naming and identity. Local history and identity are important. Horsham would remain as Horsham, Dimboola as Dimboola, Ballarat as Ballarat. The aim of the partnership project is to strengthen services for local communities, close to home, at each location. • Fundraising would stay local and funds would be used as intended. Funds raised for a particular location or purpose will remain. • There would continue to be staff and management represented at all locations to ensure local decisions are made on the ground where and when they are needed. • We will continue to keep communities informed through our website, social media, media, meetings/sessions and letters as we work through this process.
We value the input of the community in relation to this important project and communication will be ongoing. For further information, please email partnering@whcg. org.au, call 5381 9293 or visit the website, www.whcg.org.au.
Marie Aitken Wimmera Health Care Group board chair
Horsham Rural City Council will host a “Cancer and the Wimmera” online Y Θ A Session with Peter Maccallum Cancer Centre’s Chief Medical Officer Dr David Speakman on Wednesday night.
Some 139 people are diagnosed with cancer in Horsham Rural City and 53 locals lose their lives to the disease, each year.
During the height of the pandemic last year, patient referrals to Peter Mac dropped by as much as 40 per cent for some cancers, as people statewide delayed seeing their GP or getting tested.
Dr Speakman is a leading clinician working in the breast and melanoma and skin units at Peter Mac.
At this online event, people will learn about: • How early detection and treatment of cancer can improve treatment outcomes • Early signs and symptoms • Risk factors, screening and prevention • How telehealth – instead of travelling to appointments – can benefit people in regional sictoria
Mayor Robyn Gulline will host the webinar from 7pm and Wimmera Cancer Centre manager Carmel O’kane will also be a panelist.
The live presentation will be available via Zoom video conferencing. Attendees do not need to register and a recording will be made available after the event.
“We are extremely fortunate to have access to someone of Dr Speakman’s calibre and I encourage everyone to consider logging in to the information session,” Cr Gulline said.
“Anyone can join the Zoom webinar. It’s easy to do, participants won’t have their cameras on but they can get involved through the text chat function,” she said.
Cr Gulline said people could submit questions for Dr Speakman before Wednesday night via email, the HRCC Facebook page or left at Council’s Customer Service Desk.
“We will also see if we can answer some questions as they come in during the webinar,” she said.
Dr Speakman has over 20 year’s sub-specialist experience in both breast and melanoma fields and was intimately involved in the conception, design and building of Peter Mac’s new Melbourne facilities.
“We hope this outreach to the community, and increased focus on cancer at this time, will help us find cancer diagnoses that may have been overlooked because of the pandemic,” Dr Speakman said.
“If you have concerns about your health, or put off getting a test or seeing your doctor over the past year, we urge you to see your GP as soon as possible because delays make cancer harder to treat.”
Peter Mac’s melanoma and skin service is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.
Of the new cancer cases in Horsham Rural City each year, on average 11 people are diagnosed with lung cancer, 14 with melanoma, 17 with bowel cancer, 17 with breast cancer and 16 with prostate cancer.