Member Spotlight – Caring for Community with Purpose at Heathcote Health
Heathcote Health, a rural health service in Victoria, shares how a strong commitment to community, quality, and continuous improvement shapes their care.
Established in 1859, Heathcote Health is a publicly funded Victorian health service with a long community history. We sat down with Emma Millard - Quality Manager and Jade Runnalls - Nurse Unit Manager at Heathcote Health to learn more about their organisation.
1. Can you tell us about Heathcote Health and the communities you serve?
Heathcote Health is a leading small rural health service located within the City of Greater Bendigo. Heathcote is situated on the traditional lands of the Taungurung people. We are one of 13 health services within the Loddon Mallee Local Health Service Network.
Heathcote Health is a public health service, with a 9-bed acute service, 24-hour urgent care, and providing a broad range of community services. We are also home to a 42-bed residential aged care facility.
We provide services to the Heathcote community and its surroundings, with approximately 4,000 people calling Heathcote home. We are also one of the largest employers in Heathcote with over 200 staff caring for our community.
Heathcote Health is assessed through ACHS against the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) standards for our acute and urgent care services. We also undertake assessments against the Aged Care Quality Standards and NDIS Practice Standards for other areas of service delivery.
2. What do your values - Compassion, Accountability, Respect and Excellence, mean to your team, and how do they shape the care you provide to your community?
Our values of C.A.R.E are incorporated into the services and support we provide for all patients, residents, clients, and community members. All staff work to encompass these valuesand strive to provide the best possible outcomes for all patients, residents and clients.
Heathcote Health have been selected to be involved in a number of Safer Care Victoria clinical projects, with the aim of reducing avoidable harm, reducing avoidable admissions and ensuring safe medication practices, and ensuring that we are up to date with evidence-based, best practice approaches to service delivery.
Staff are also encouraged and supported to be part of Heathcote Health’s Whole System Quality program, giving them the opportunity to be involved in more structured quality improvement initiatives. This empowers staff to contribute to continuous quality improvements and to feel like they are making a difference in the workplace, with benefits for themselves, their co-workers and of course our patients, residents and clients.
3. How do your acute services at Heathcote Health create a welcoming and supportive environment for patients?
All new patients to Heathcote Health’s acute services are orientated to their rooms and the ward, including being shown around by staff, and staff encouraging patients to ask for assistance at any time and for any reason.
There is a welcome folder at each patient bedside outlining services and supports provided to patientsand providing details on what to do if a patient (or their family member or representative) is worried. Staff explain to patients (and their family member or representative where applicable) how to escalate their care, and this is also outlined on REACH posters which are displayed throughout our acute ward facilities.
There are no set visiting hours during the day so that we can accommodate families who wish to visit a patient. Palliative patients are encouraged to have their loved ones stay with them as much as they wish, including overnight. These are just some examples of how we create a welcoming and supportive environment for our patients.
4. Was there anything you learnt from your last assessment?
Heathcote Health’s most recent short notice assessment (SNA) against the NSQHS standards was in September 2023, with the ACHS assessment going really well. The strong working relationship which we built with ACHS prior to the assessment supported us to ensure that we were clear about the standards and indicators and that the safety and quality of patient care was at the forefront of the services and supports we provide across our acute services.
We are expecting our next short notice assessment at any time, so have been working to ensure that we are as prepared as possible for this. This is particularly important as a small rural health service, with limited resourcing to coordinate and support these processes.
5. Do you have any advice for other ACHS Members on their accreditation journey?
Our team has found that it has been helpful to have a strong working relationship with our ACHS Customer Service Manager, Lauren Gailey. We have also found that ACHS’ Member resources, including the SNA Resources, Pre Assessment Documentation Guide and Member Support Videos to be helpful in ensuring that we understand the SNA assessment process itself, including our responsibilities and actions required.
Our health service has a strong commitment to quality, safety and continuous improvement, and through this we aim to be as prepared as possible for an assessment against the NSQHS standards at any time. This includes having allocated portfolio holders as ‘champions’ for each standard, maintaining a current self-assessment against the NSQHS standards, and having clear processes that we can follow once we are notified of a SNA.
We have also found that it has been helpful to learn about the experiences of other health services from their NSQHS assessments, through our quality, risk and clinical networks.
Thanks to the team at Heathcote Health for sharing your insights.
