Keeping people healthy and safe in the community

To be healthy and safe, Victorians need information and tools that allow them to make good choices.

This includes navigating the health, wellbeing and care system to achieve the best possible individual outcomes.

Prevention and early intervention are central to this empowerment. We want Victorians to know how to stay healthy. We also want them to recognise early when they need to access healthcare.

When they do seek the support of Victoria’s health, wellbeing, and care services, they will experience high-quality care that is respectful, delivered with integrity, inclusive and culturally safe. This experience will extend across the full spectrum of services from hospitals to mental health and wellbeing support. It includes Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs), and everywhere else Victorians need the health, wellbeing, and care system.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who access care in the mainstream system will experience early intervention and prevention services that are culturally safe. They will have much greater choice and access to care.

The Treaty and truth-telling processes will help us address the social, cultural, and historical determinants of health and wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Flowing the other way, general healthcare has much to learn from the holistic health and wellbeing principles of the First Peoples community. This includes through connectedness, community, and self-determination.

Our role is to continue to partner, engage and consult with communities. We do this so Victorians have a system that gives them control over their physical and mental health. We want them to understand the effect of harmful behaviours like drug, alcohol, and substance abuse so they can be part of the solution.

We want to work together so that every program, initiative, and service is built by and for the communities we serve.

We will work with other parts of government (including those focussed on families, fairness, housing, education, and justice) to improve the cultural, spiritual, social and economic determinants of health and wellbeing. As the government plans new precincts, we will ensure these environments are created to help Victorians live healthy lives.

We will use data and analytics to identify priority issues. We will respond to emergencies, provide protection from hazards, and build resilience and emergency readiness in the workforce and community. And we will do it all in line with our regulatory and legislative responsibilities to prevent harm and deliver a safe and high-quality health, wellbeing, and care system.

Priority initiatives include:

• Local Public Health Units – Enable Local Public Health Units to deliver frontline health protection services and proactively identify, prevent, and mitigate public health risks across Victoria.
• Digital Health Roadmap 2026-2031 – Align future data and digital investments to drive transformation of the healthcare system.
• Harm reduction initiatives – Deliver the 10-year Victorian alcohol and other drugs strategy with a focus on reducing Alcohol and Other Drugs related harms.
• Strengthening Public Sector Residential Aged Care services – Maintain the delivery of high-quality aged care services as close to home as possible and seek opportunities with the Commonwealth to improve care options for older adults.
• Victorian Cancer Plan 2024-2028 – Continue to deliver the Victorian Cancer Plan 2024-28 including setting goals and priorities to reduce the cancer burden and enhance care for all Victorians.

Outcomes

Population health