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    SIGNED: Rural Northwest Health board chair Dr John Aitken and Department of Health western health services and aged care executive director Janelle Hearn are shown signing the Statement of Priorities.

Health group sets priorities

Rural Northwest Health has committed to continuing to provide its community and teams with safe, quality care, strong leadership, positive culture, and effective financial management, through its signing of 2024-25 Statement of Priorities with the Department of Health.

RNH’s chairman John Aitken and chief executive Jenni Masters met with Department of Health’s western health services and aged care executive director Janelle Hearn in Ballarat on November 15 to sign the Statement of Priorities, SoP.

The SoP is the key accountability agreements between the State Government and Victorian publicly funded health, mental health and ambulance services. 

The SoP is consistent with an organisations’ strategic plans and aligns to government policy directions and priorities. Also forming part of the SoP are the commitments to: operate within a budget, improve access to healthcare and wellbeing, build a stronger workforce, and move from competition to collaboration via information sharing. 



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Setting out its focus areas for the year ahead, the Department of Health will target finance, cultural safety and training and engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, gender equality, and the creation of Regional Health Networks. 

“John and I were pleased to have an opportunity to speak about the positive work that RNH is doing, including the changes we’ve made, and the hire and retention of our great staff,” Ms Masters said.

“It was a positive day and further cemented that things are going really well for us as an organisation.” 

Dr Aitken said it was great to meet with Department of Health representatives to discuss the priorities, opportunities, and some of the challenges for RNH in the coming year. 

“We look forward to more discussions as we prepare for the Regional Health Network implementation and develop a new strategic plan for RNH in 2025,” he said.

The entire November 27, 2024 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!

The entire November,27, 2024 edition of AgLife is available online. READ IT HERE!