Welcome to the Demand Management Strategy for Victorian Public Hospitals

The Hospital Demand Management (HDM) Strategy was established in October 2000 in response to increases in demand and deterioration in access to acute public hospital services. To tackle these system-wide issues in the short to medium term the Government established the HDM Strategy with an initial investment of $582 million over four years. The strategy builds on extensive consultation with hospitals undertaken through the Patient Management Taskforce in 2000-01, and involves a new level of cooperation and collaboration between Government and health services. Following its early success, the HDM Strategy has been extended to 2006-07 with additional Government funding of $526 million.

The HDM Strategy is working to strengthen the capacity of the health system to manage increasing demand pressures in six key ways:

• Funding targeted growth in the activity performed within hospitals.
• Substitution through expansion of non-bed-based models of care.
• Encouraging Clinical Practice Change to achieve best practice.
• Funding the Hospital Admission Risk Program (HARP) to improve health outcomes and reduce the avoidable use of hospitals.
• Providing improved working conditions that attract and retain nurses.
• Expanding opportunities for people to access elective surgery.