INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Merger MattersNewsletter June/July 2017

Welcome to our first joint newsletter

COMBINED HEALTH SERVICES COMMUNITY INFORMATION

Seymour Health and Yea & District Memorial Hospital have recently announced their intention to in-vestigate the option of merging our management teams.

The aim of the merger is to estab-lish improved and expanded local health services for patients, and en-hanced levels of care. Over the com-ing months, it is anticipated that both health services will form a closer working relationship as we collaboratively gather information as part of the due dili-gence process. This is one example of how a proposed merger could support further cooperation between staff and offer improved op-portunities for knowledge sharing.

We appreciate that communicating with our local communities is vital to the ongoing success of our hos-pitals, especially during a period of change. We understand that mem-bers of the community and staff may have a number of questions about what this might mean for both health

“We aim to keep our

communities informed about developments.”

services. This newsletter is designed to keep our local communities in-formed and fully updated on devel-opments throughout the process of exploring a possible merger. Further information including FAQs can also be readily found on the websites of both Seymour Health and Yea & Dis-trict Memorial Hospital. Both Boards encourage anyone with additional unanswered questions regarding the proposed merger to make contact

with either Director of Nursing/Manager, Lori-na Gray at Yea & District Memorial Hospital or alternatively CEO Chris McDonnell at Seymour Health.

� MANAGEMENT TEAMS MEET TO DISCUSS MERGER 2

� FROM THE BOARD CHAIR 2 � MINIMAL CHANGE

EXPECTED 3 � WHAT IS DUE DILIGENCE? 3 � MEETING THE YEA

COMMUNITY 4

ISSUE 1

From the Boards

Annie Fletcher- Nicholls

Board ChairSeymour Health

Both Boards share the view that a merger would support further cooperation between staff at the two health service campuses and provide increased opportunity for im-proved professional development and knowledge sharing. The Boards of Yea & District Memorial Hospital and Sey-mour Health look forward to continu-ing to serve both lo-cal communities as a new, united health service.”

Kristin Michaels

Board PresidentYea & District

Memorial Hospital

YEA & DISTRICT MEMORIAL HOSPITAL - SEYMOUR HEALTH

2

CEO Comment“It is my intention to keep the communities of Yea and Seymour up to date on develop-ments. The new cross-community partnership would establish better and expanded local health services and en-hanced levels of care in both Yea and Seymour.The proposed merger would strengthen and better prepare both ser-vices to serve the needs of the Yea and Seymour communities, now and into the future.”

A MEETING OF MINDS

Management Teams Meet to Discuss Merger The management teams of both Yea & District Memorial Hospital (YDMH) and Seymour Health (SH) met for the first time to discuss plans for the proposed merger on June 1 at Marmalades Cafe, Yea.

The meeting provided a unique oc-casion for managers to learn more about one another’s current roles, identify any similarities and con-sider possible future opportunities for knowledge sharing across both health services.

An Opportunity to Work Together

The group mapped out a process for jointly working together in the months ahead to carry out due dili-gence across specific areas of both organ-isations, including; governance, clinical governance, people & culture, finance and assets & infrastruc-ture. The information gathered from this process will form the basis of a report to be provided to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for their consider-ation regarding a decision to merge.

At the meeting, Seymour Health Chief Executive Officer, Chris McDonnell re-assured all staff that the merger pro-posal was not a take-over by Seymour Health. “The services and staffing lev-

els at Yea and District Memorial Hos-pital (YDMH) as well as at Seymour Health (SH) will be unaffected as we look at new ways to establish better and expanded health services in Yea and surrounding areas. This is a merg-er, not a takeover. It will benefit both services,” he said.

Management teams from both YDMH and SH have willingly agreed to meet fortnightly in alternate locations in Yea and Seymour to work in partner-ship to investigate the merger pro-posal and jointly contribute to the due diligence process.

During the inaugural cross-organisa-tional management team meeting, the group proactively identified sev-eral advantages of working together as a united health service. New and more efficient ways of partnering co-operatively across the health ser-vices were recognised, such as shar-ing practices regarding accreditation processes, streamlining development of policy and procedures and consid-ering the potential for sharing office space.

Showcasing Facilities at Yea

In addition to bringing staff to-gether for the first time, the meeting created an oppor-tunity for YDMH staff to showcase Yea & District Me-morial Hospital fa-cilities to the Sey-mour Health team, increasing their

level of understanding regarding the services, staffing and patient care offered in Yea. Members from both Health Services commented on the genuine enthusiasm displayed in re-gards to working together as a team to explore the possible merger. The meeting signaled a positive start to a potential future working together.

““During the meeting, the management teams

were quickly able to identify several advan-

tages of working to-gether as a united health

service.”

Chris McDonnell

Chief Executive Officer

Seymour Health

3

Attending the recent health services management meeting from left to right were: Jo Cavill (Director Clinical Services-SH), Natalie Wischer (Qual-ity and Risk Manager -YDMH), Jane Garnett (Manager People and Culture -SH), Chris McDonnell (Chief Executive Officer -SH), Cheryl Nickels-Beattie (Director Business Services and Per-formance -SH), Lorina Gray (Director of Nursing/Manager -YDMH), Jodie Fincham (Senior Project Officer -SH & YDMH) and Yvonne Padgett (Special Projects Co-ordinator -YDMH).

First Meeting held at Yea

The management teams of both hospitals meeting together as a group for the first time at Yea.

GP & HOSPITAL SERVICES A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Minimal changes expected

What is Due Diligence?

If the decision is made to proceed with a merger between the two health services, routine services will continue to be offered in Yea with no change. However, there will be additional opportunities for shared care arrangements, infor-mation sharing and collaboration with those in Seymour.

If change does occur, patients will not be required to travel to Seymour to access care as all services will remain at Yea. Patient care will continue as usual at the Yea General Practitioner clinic and also at Yea and District Me-morial Hospital.

The merger proposal is about im-proving services - not reducing them, so there will be no job losses or re-duction in the number of staff. In addition, there will also be no loss of funding provided from the Depart-ment of Health and Human Services, should a merger take place.

Part of exploring the possibility of merging health service manage-ment teams, will involve a due dili-gence process. Both SH and YDMH have jointly agreed to participate in this process. Due diligence is an essential step in assisting both par-ties to fully develop an understand-ing of how each other operates.

Both YDMH and SH have agreed to collaboratively work together on commencing the due diligence pro-cess, which will involve a significant commitment of time and resources from each ser-vice. Full co-operation, participation and disclo-sure will ensure that all information is explored and no issues are over-looked. It is expected that the process will investigate the following areas; governance, clin-ical governance, financial, people &

culture and assets and infrastructure. Once all of the information has been gathered, an analysis of commonali-ties and differences between the two organisations can be made from an operational, managerial and techni-cal perspective. Collecting and exam-ining information as part of the due diligence process will enable suitable and informed decisions to be made.

A Positive Outcome is Expected

The outcome of a voluntary merger is anticipated to enhance local services and patient care for the communities of Yea and Seymour. It should be not-ed however, that the merger is not

compulsory and approv-al will only be provided once the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is sat-isfied that appropriate due diligence has been completed and that it is clear that merging is in

the best interests of both communi-ties.

Further updates on the merger in the next issue

Memo

�� Seymour Health Locked Bag 1 Seymour VIC 3661 Tel: (03) 5793 6100 info@seymourhealth.org.au

©2009 – All rights reserved

If you have further queries don’t forget to visit the

following websites to read the Frequently Asked Ques-

tions (FAQs) :

www.yeahospital.org.au

www.seymourhealth.org.

CEO - MEET AND GREET

Meeting the CommunitiesSeymour Health Chief Executive Of-ficer, Chris McDonnell has recently spent time meeting with Yea Com-munity stakeholder groups to per-sonally outline the reasons for ex-ploring a potential merger.

1 Attending a meeting with Lori-na Gray (Director of Nursing/

Manager) on May 30 with the Rose-bank Volunteer Group provided an information ex-change and opportunity to discuss the pos-sibility of new expanded local health services in Yea. The new services could potentially include a foot clinic, dental chair as well as en-hanced Well Women’s Clinics, podia-try services and palliative care. This information was well received by community members.

2 A second “meet and greet” was held on June 1, with Chris Mc-

Donnell visiting the Yea Hospital & Rosebank Auxiliary. As a result of this meeting, the CEO has been invit-ed to act as a speaker at the Auxiliary

Group’s forthcoming AGM on 6 July-and will once again take the opportu-nity to answer important questions from stakeholder group members,

reassuring them that there will be very little change should the merger go ahead. This message will reinforce that community members will con-tinue to experience the same caring and professional services as usual, without any disruption or change.

3 Several meetings with key local stakeholder groups have also

taken place in Seymour, ensuring that the lines of communication are kept open about the decision to explore a possible merger.

4 Specific meetings have been held with local Seymour Gen-

eral Practitioners and members of the Seymour Health Community Refer-ence Committee, providing them

with information about the amalga-mation proposal. Communication has also been personally provided to local MPs and Local Government offi-cials, keeping them informed.

Seymour Health Chief Executive Offi-cer Chris McDonnell continues to reg-ularly present updates to members of the Seymour Health Board, keeping them abreast of the latest develop-ments. In addition, it is intended that all staff at both health services will be regularly updated on the progress of the merger via in-person meetings and all-staff emails.

“I look forward to meeting members of the Yea com-

munity and reassuring them that if a merger does go

ahead - it will be business as usual, only better.”

Chris McDonnell

Seymour Health

�� Yea & District Memorial Hospital 45 Station St Yea VIC 3717 Tel: (03) 5736 0400 yeahospital@humehealth.org.au

Lorina Gray