17 March An Insight to a Placement at a Department March 17, 2019 By Tais Lildaree General 0 Author: Kelly Hayden For my third placement I was based at the Department of Health and Human Services in the Metro Performance Team. The Metro Performance managed the relationships between the metro hospitals and the department and was responsible for monitoring their finance, governance access to care, quality and safety performance against the Victorian Health Services Performance Monitoring Framework. While at the department my role was to conduct a state-wide review of 24 hour ED breaches, a KPI of the framework. The review involved visiting health services and consulting managers and executives to understand the challenges in meeting the current KPI, strategies and resources needed to improve state-wide performance. This opportunity provided me great exposure to understand some of the system challenges and how they manifest and effect service delivery. Another component of my role was to develop the policy and business rules outlining the department’s responsibility in monitoring and regulating the accreditation of health services in relation to the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards. I was also in charge of preparing monthly and quarterly performance brief to Minister. In preparing the brief, I was required to co-ordinate input from various areas of the department including Safer Care Victoria, Mental Health and VAHI. I was particularly fortunate in my placement as I was able to act up into the Performance Lead role. This meant I was the primary contact person in the DHHS for the executive team of two health services. A key part of the role was preparing for the quarterly performance review between the health services and the Director of Commissioning, Performance and Regulation. This involved collecting information from the health service, Safer Care Victoria, Mental Health and VAHI to inform the performance rating the health service would achieve for that quarter. I was responsible for having discussions with executive around setting their budgets and performance targets for the following year. I also responded to their queries for funding and participated in workshops relating to capital expansion. I really enjoyed my time at the department as it provided me with a broader understanding healthcare sector and government; and how the two interact. It also assisted me in developing my professional networks which has been helpful in continuing on in the program. Related Posts Connecting the dots through placements (By Sarah Monaghan) A key feature of the internship that interested me was the exposure to various healthcare organisations and departments through six-month placements. Having primarily worked in metropolitan hospitals as a clinician I was keen to take the opportunity to explore healthcare outside hospital wards. Over the last two years I have actively worked in a variety of healthcare organisations which has broadened and enhanced my understanding of the healthcare system and the interplay between departments and organisations. Intern Insight: 2018 6 Interns, 3 Trimesters, 2 Placements, 1 Year Insights from a Victorian Health Management Intern First year intern Angeline Kuek shares her experience of the ACHSM Victorian Health Management Internship Program. Pledging Allegiance: the dual loyalties of the public service (Harrison Thorn) From the ‘West Wing’, to ‘Parks and Recreation’, and Australia’s own ‘Utopia’; there are many enjoyable and humorous representations of life in the public service. This semester I am excited to join its ranks at the Victorian Department of Health and learn about life as a government employee. My Brief Walk Down A Country (Health Service) Lane (By Soumya Shah) My first placement with ACHSM was at a rural Victorian hospital, where I had fortunate experience of learning from leaders across the organisation – from department managers to the board of directors. This gave me a unique insight into high-level strategic and operational decisions required to: (i) run a quality health service; (ii) provide quality care that met the needs of the community and; (iii) address issues that are most prominent to a rural setting. These are my key takeaways from my 6-month rural placement 10 advantages of working in regional and rural health Shortly after Simonne Collins took the opportunity of a new position as an ACHSM Management Intern, she was informed she would be completing her first placement at a regional hospital in Victoria. As this placement draws to a close, she reflects on the many advantages of working in regional and rural health services. Comments are closed.