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The Strategy

The Metropolitan Health Strategy (MHS) has been developed to provide a strategic policy and planning framework for the provision of health care services across metropolitan Melbourne for the next five to ten years. It provides a guide to the future level, mix and distribution of health services and a framework in which individualised service and capital planning can occur.

The MHS complements the Hospital Demand Management (HDM) strategy, which initially concentrated on developing immediate and short term responses to escalating demand for services, as well as supporting practice change, innovation and new models of care to deliver change over the longer term. The MHS builds on this longer term view with a focus on the fundamental system changes required to achieve sustainable delivery of health services that are safe, of high quality, responsive to individual needs, timely and efficient.

Efficient and effective delivery of public health care is dependent on the availability of appropriate physical facilities, the largest of which are our hospitals. A key element of the MHS is, therefore, the capital planning required to provide a framework for the provision of facilities, infrastructure and resources across the metropolitan area. This framework will identify the areas of growth in demand and the new models of care to be implemented to meet this demand.

The MHS has also been developed within the context of the Victorian Government’s broader policy framework for metropolitan Melbourne, which is outlined in Melbourne 2030: Planning for sustainable growth.

Many of the MHS recommendations are supported by Government commitments to further develop the health system in Victoria, as outlined in Labor’s Financial Statement 2002, which summarises the Government’s 2002 election commitments.

This document outlines the key findings and policy directions of the MHS. The MHS provides a responsive and responsible vision for the future of health services in metropolitan Melbourne, by highlighting immediate initiatives and prioritising future planning.

The health service profile summaries provided in Appendix 2 provide clear future directions and outlines of proposed capital projects for each health service facility within the system.

The following papers have informed the MHS and provide additional detail - click here to download

• Directions for your health system – Metropolitan Health Strategy – Public hospital inpatient forecasts 2006–07 and 2011–12
• Directions for your health system – Metropolitan Health Strategy – Ambulatory care services
• Directions for your health system – Metropolitan Health Strategy – Ambulatory care literature review
• Review of Victorian paediatric services
• Review of Victorian Paediatric services – Department of Human Services response
• Improving and integrating care for older people: a comprehensive approach for Victorian Health Services
• Hospital demand management strategy 2001–2002: Summary of findings from project annual reports
• Whole of Health Information and Communication Technology Strategic Plan 2002–2007
• Cancer services framework highlights report
• New directions for Victoria’s mental health services – the next five years

The policy directions have also been informed by work underway in the Dental Health and Community Health programs of the Department of Human Services.