Western BSEP

Program Overview

The Western Breast Services Alliance brought together three major public service providers with a number of associated services and private providers from inner Melbourne to the Western suburbs of Melbourne.

The key agencies in the Western Breast Services Alliance included:

• Western Health (Sunshine, Western and Williamstown Hospitals)
• The Royal Melbourne Hospital
• The Royal Women's Hospital
• Freemasons Hospital

The key management team included a full-time Project Manager with a part-time Project Officer, and additional staff were brought on to assist with specific projects. The Steering Committee included representatives from the key stakeholder agencies and consumers, and provided significant input into the Alliance projects. An Executive Committee was also established to strengthen the capacity of the Alliance to achieve its objectives.

Working Parties were established to assist in the development of key strategies. The working parties had clinical and consumer representation from across the Alliance and enabled involvement of other stakeholders with additional expertise.

Program Objectives

The overall program goal was to ensure that women have access to high quality breast care services in accordance with best practice.

The objectives were to:

• Develop sustainable systems and processes that embed best practice into routine care.
• Encourage consistency of care within and between alliance partners.
  
• Strengthen linkages between service providers both within the Alliance and between the acute and primary health care sectors.
• Develop mechanisms to demonstrate best practice and facilitate review and continuous quality improvement.