Visit to Mildura Base Public Hospital strengthens partnership

Teams from Mildura Base Public Hospital (MBPH) and HSV recently met on site at MBPH to discuss procurement challenges experienced by the hospital as a remote rural health service.

MBPH Executive Director – Finance, Infrastructure and Partnerships Matthew Jukes and MBPH Director of Procurement Todd George met with HSV. A tour of the hospital and meeting the frontline procurement team gave the HSV group an opportunity to see the procurement function in action while gaining valuable insights into some of the challenges they experience.

MBPH is one of Victoria’s most remote mandated health services and is relatively new to the Victorian public health system, having operated privately through Ramsay Healthcare until September 2020. During their initial transition to a public health service, procurement was organised through Bendigo Health, however in September this year the procurement function moved in-house. This means the MBPH team is very new to managing engagement with HSV and understanding HSV’s contract and compliance process.

“As we’re in a remote area, having the HSV team visit and meet with us in person solidifies their commitment to supporting us in our transition back to in-house procurement,” says Todd George.

Matthew Jukes says the visit has immediately enhanced the relationship between MBPH and HSV. 

“Meeting in person onsite fosters a partnership-style relationship,” Matthew says.

“It helps create a mutual understanding of the challenges individual health services need to manage, and where HSV can play an increasingly present role in helping address existing and emerging risks.

“From our prospective there are areas of improvement and opportunities to be explored in our relationship with HSV, with the biggest being becoming a key strategic partner. Open dialogue has enabled some real conversations to occur around what is working and not working,” says Matthew.

MBPH’s remote location means there are fewer available suppliers. With the next major hospital (Bendigo) over 400 kilometres away, sharing resources becomes difficult.

“MBPH told us how the hospital is a vital part of the local community. Staff are highly motivated to provide an excellent service and want to work with local providers who have the ability to service the hospital well,” says HSV Acting Chief Procurement Officer Rebecca Prior.

“Likewise, community support has helped MBPH resolve challenges, such as purchase a refurbished ambulance to solve the issue of low service availability in the non-emergency patient transport category,” Rebecca says.

Since the visit, HSV’s Customer Engagement team has developed and initiated an action plan to help MBPH transition into managing its own procurement and compliance requirements. One of the plan’s high-priority actions relates to annual reporting required under the Modern Slavery Act 2018, due by 31 December 2024. A session on how HSV can support MBPH to meet the Australian Government’s requirements has already been held.

Rebecca says regular visits to health services brings significant benefits for both HSV and health services.

“A ‘one size fits all’ approach does not suit remote health services like MBPH, which requires more focus by our category teams to engage local suppliers.

“Having a face-to-face discussion improves engagement with remote health services and fosters a stronger partnership between health services and HSV,” Rebecca says.

Above image: The HSV team meets CPO Todd George (far left), CFO Matthew Jukes (third from left) and members of MBPH’s frontline Procurement team in front of the Indigenous art featured at the hospital’s entrance. The work by three local Latji Latji / Ngintait artists is believed to be one of the largest indoor Indigenous artworks in Australia.