What health services does Mildura Base Hospital provide?
Mildura Base Hospital is a public 165-bed (level 1) tertiary teaching hospital, providing public hospital services on behalf of the Victorian Government to the community of Mildura and the Sunraysia District. The hospital delivers a range of services including Emergency, Maternity, Intensive Care, General Medicine and Surgery, Oncology, Medical Imaging, Pathology, Dialysis, Mental Health (Inpatient and community services), subacute care and a range of Ambulatory Services.
Why has Government made the decision to transfer Mildura Base Hospital to public management now?
As the existing agreement with Ramsay Health is approaching the end of its current term in 2020, the Victorian Government decided the time was right to consider whether or not to continue this arrangement.
The Victorian Government has carefully considered this decision, including reviewing feedback from the recent community consultation. This decision will help ensure the community of Mildura feel more connected and aligned with their local health service and will also help bring operations of Mildura Base Hospital in line with all other rural Victorian public health services.
Making this decision now provides more certainty to the community as to how public health services will be delivered in Mildura beyond 2020 and allows time to transition to the new public sector management model.
When will public management of Mildura Base Hospital begin?
Public sector management will start after the current agreement between Ramsay Health and the Victorian Government ends on 15 September 2020.
How does a privately managed public hospital model really work? What will change once the service is transitioned to public management?
The Mildura Base Hospital is a public health service currently operated by a private provider, Ramsay Health Care. The arrangement is managed under the terms of a Service Agreement between Ramsay Health and the Victorian Government.
In a privately managed public hospital, the private operator receives the same level of funding as any other public health service across Victoria and must abide by the same conditions. However, unlike other public health services, Mildura Base Hospital doesn't have a Board of Directors appointed by the Minister for Health and operational surpluses are able to be retained by Ramsay Health, and the health service's annual report is not tabled in Parliament.
Once under public management, Mildura Base Hospital will continue to receive funding consistent with the policies applied to all Victorian public health services and meet the same quality and safety standards expected of all other public hospitals.
The hospital will also operate with a Minister appointed Board of Directors, and any future operational surpluses will be reinvested into services for the community and their annual report will be tabled in Parliament each year.