Health Services Plan

In July 2023, the Victorian Department of Health commissioned an Expert Advisory Committee (the Committee) to examine the design and governance of Victoria's health services system. Over 10 months they explored many of the challenges experienced by patients, communities and our health workforce within the system.

The Committee developed the Health Services Plan, which provides recommendations for a more connected system that delivers the right care, at the right time, in the right place, for all Victorians. The Plan is outlined through three key pillars of reform:

• Establishing Local Health Service Networks (Networks) – geographic groupings responsible for planning and managing care so that it meets the population health needs of their communities.
• Formalised relationships between each Network and a women's, a children's and a tertiary hospital, ensuring every Victorian has seamless access to specialist care and expertise when they need it.
• A Victorian Role Delineation Framework, which will support collaboration across the system through setting out the roles and responsibilities of every health service site, aligned to their size and capability.

The Government accepted 21 recommendations in full, and accepted in principle five recommendations:

• Recommendation 4.6 - Likely amendments to groupings and boundaries based on further consultation with the sector. The Government will provide guidance to health service boards on principles to underpin Local Health Service Network groupings. Health services will then be able to propose groupings for their region for approval by Government.
• Recommendation 6.1 - The department will undertake further work to consider this while ensuring no reduction in service provision.
• Recommendation 7.2 - Hospitals will not be forced to consolidate to form Local Health Service Networks.
• Recommendation 8.1 - The department will continue to support those health services that wish to consolidate. The Government does not accept the recommendation on forced consolidation of health services.
• Recommendation 9.2 - Further work is needed to understand the impact of these reforms across healthcare the Commonwealth is responsible for.

The Government does not accept recommendation 7.1 relating to directed consolidations of health services outlined in the report.

Further work is now being undertaken on the accepted recommendations.

Consultation

The input of sector leaders, workforce and local communities will be central to the implementation of the Health Services Plan’s recommendations.

Local Health Service Networks will commence operation from 1 July 2025.

To support the implementation of the Plan and Local Health Service Network arrangements, a range of consultation activities were undertaken in 2024 and continue into 2025.

• Consultation with health service leaders on Network groupings took place from November to December 2024.
• Consultation with health service and sector leaders on Network priorities and governance arrangements will commence in early 2025.
• Consultation on the Role Delineation framework is taking place with health service leaders across late 2024 and early 2025.
• Consideration of the relationships with tertiary services will take place from early 2025.

Health services and the Department of Health will also consult with workforces and communities about the immediate priorities of each Network. This will enable stakeholders to share insights into the barriers and opportunities that matter to them most, ahead of the Networks being established in July 2025.

For more information on the Networks visit Local Health Service Networks.

Timeline