March 2023 edition 

At Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District we wanted to plan our health services holistically from a district perspective rather than by individual services, so we could define how we will provide care to our consumers, regardless of where they are.

To achieve this we needed to have clear, overarching objectives to guide us.   

The release of Future Health in 2022 provided this opportunity. 

Joining the dots: linking local perspectives to Future Health 

Partnering with patients, clinicians, and delivery organisations is a key enabler of value based healthcare and was central to developing the strategic plan. We worked with policy leads, facility general managers and directors across the district. We also consulted with clinicians and consumers and used an all staff survey to seek feedback on the draft plan. 
The value of including the Future Health objectives was demonstrated by feedback we received from one of the sessions: “The link to Future Health makes it easy to see how our work contributes to state priorities.” 
Using a program logic model enabled us to pull together a large volume of feedback, policies, plans and strategies to develop a document that stakeholders described as clear, concise and comprehensive. 

What are the key lessons and next steps? 

This has been an ambitious piece of work while delivering the day to day services of an LHD across such a large area with different demographics, and limited stakeholder availability during COVID and flu outbreaks.  

However, Future Health clearly highlighted how different areas of work contribute to NSW Health’s goals and helped us to achieve consensus on a shared vision.   

Through the planning process we recognised many opportunities. These included a chance to strengthen and streamline VBHC initiatives, aligning them to Future Health strategic objectives and outcomes by establishing an overarching governance structure. 

We will implement the new strategic plan through our usual operational planning process. The District’s services, facilities and directorates identify how the actions on their operational plans contribute to the organisation’s strategic priorities, and report on their progress quarterly.  
Current as at: Thursday 2 March 2023
Contact page owner: Strategic Reform and Planning