Advancing equitable access to health care

When it comes to health care in regional and rural Victoria, often the public hospital is the only option, and choice of specialists is limited. Under the direction of a new CEO and leadership team, Rapid Impact supported the creation of an ambitious strategy to grow a private hospital. Not only are new treatments available, but the overall number of doctors has increased allowing more options for patients. Community members no longer have to leave town for major surgery, and soon, cancer treatment will also be available locally. Even during COVID, the private hospital delivered on its strategy, and its aspirations for its next plan are even more ambitious.

The Victorian Government introduced legislative changes to the Mental Health Act, and to support these, funded a pilot program in seven health services (18 psychiatric units) to reduce the use of seclusion and restraint of patients. We partnered with a local forensic health expert, and a government team, to customise and translate the UK Safewards program into a format and approach suitable for the Victorian psychiatric setting. This involved understanding the theory and practice of Safewards, creating innovative delivery methods and establishing a learning network of professionals who had the confidence to embed and institutionalise the initiatives at each of their respective workplaces. 

The release of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s mental health system, and the mental health burden from COVID-19 which is so significant that it is referred to as the shadow pandemic, confirms the unmet and escalating demand for psychiatrists. Rapid Impact supported consultations across health services in Victoria to determine how to strengthen psychiatric rotations for junior doctors to increase the overall mental health capability of all doctors in training, as well as the attractiveness of psychiatry as a post-graduate specialty area.