Many of our VHA members provide pharmacotherapy services across Victoria, but to provide the best services, we need a better system to understand the patterns of need and pharmacotherapy use across Victoria. ow.ly/W37l50S96OZ

Day one of the VHA’s regional and rural road trip through the north-west of the state, with subsequent days set to cover the Mallee; Wimmera and East Grampians regions.

On the road: VHA's Natasha Moliczij; Leigh Clarke with Carol and Mandy of Woomelang and District Bush Nursing Centre, along with the VHA's Toli Papadopoulos.

Applications are now open to team leaders and program managers currently working in state funded community mental health services/programs in Victoria to undertake the VHA’s Mental Health Mentoring Program in FY2025! Click to learn more: ow.ly/YjMz50SmWzz

Registrations are now open for the VHA’s Health Board Essentials Program Learn more: ow.ly/S7Kz50SoQ83

The VHA would like to congratulate the Victorian Government on its recent announcement to commence drug checking in Victoria. ow.ly/n9eB50SpJnY

The VHA is excited to be visiting the South West region this week. The team will be meeting with members to discuss important topics impacting the sector and local communities.

On day 1 of our South West member engagement tour, we were pleased to meet with CEO of Dartmoor Bush Nursing, Nicole Stephens. A big thank you to Dartmoor Bush Nursing for hosting us!

CEO Leigh Clark and Senior Projects Advisor Georgia Howie pictured with Heywood Rural Health CEO Leigh Park. We discussed some of the innovative strategies they are implementing to address workforce challenges, including successful partnering with other regional services.

For our final visit on day 1 of our engagement tour, we visited Portland District Health. Interim CEO Karena Prevett & Interim Director of Corporate Services Annette Hinchcliffe shared with us that their priority is always to be responsive to the changing needs of the community.

Day 2 of our engagement tour took us to Moyne Health Services in Port Fairy. During our visit, we met with CEO Katharina Redford and the Executive Team to learn about their approach to effective collaboration with surrounding services. Thanks for hosting us!

For the next stop, we visited South West Healthcare. They are the largest employer in the area, employing over 1,550 people. We thank the CEO Craig Fraser and the Executive Team for their time-sharing insights into important plans to serve the diverse needs of local communities.

On our final stop yesterday, we visited Timboon and District Healthcare Service. We thank Gary Castledine, CEO and Larissa Barclay, Director of Clinical Services for taking us on a tour of your services.

The first visit on our final day took us to Great Ocean Road Health. Thanks to CEO Sandy Chamberlin and Director of Clinical Services Andrea Russell, for the tour of their extensive Apollo Bay facilities and sharing their approach to servicing the changing needs of the community.

Our final visit of our South West tour was a key integrated rural health service, Hesse Rural Health. Thank you to CEO Carissa Brock for the tour, including this beautiful First Nation’s artwork by Worimi artist Gerard Black, telling the story of two regions coming together.

And that’s a wrap on our South West engagement tour! Over three days, the team heard valuable insights about how services have learnt to collaborate to best deliver the diversity and breadth of health services required in the region. Thank you to our members for hosting us.

Today Jacinta Allan and Mary-Anne Thomas MP visited Access Community Health to mark half a million visits for Victoria’s Priority Primary Care Clinics, which will be re-named to Urgent Care Clinics Read more in the Victorian Government’s media statement: premier.vic.gov.au/making-urgent-…

On Wednesday, we welcomed 16 community health professionals to the VHA office for our Advancing Community Health Forum, to reflect on the theme ‘Exploring ways to future proof and sustain community health services’ Pictured L-R: Sherri Huckstep, Leigh Clarke and Ken Griffin

The Victorian Government has expanded the range of medicines authorised midwives can prescribe, increasing their scope of practice and improving patient care. Read more in the Victorian Government’s media statement: premier.vic.gov.au/making-it-easi…

VHA CEO Leigh Clarke 💜 was pleased to attend The Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Partnership Forum in Geelong today, proudly lead by VACCHO. The Forum started with a scenic smoking ceremony on Wadawurrung Country. vaccho.org.au/ahwpf/