WATCH: Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas and Albury Wodonga Health chair Jonathan Green respond to questions about a potential merger of the cross-border health service with Goulburn Valley Health.
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00:00 Is Aubrey Wood on the health going to come under the administration of Golden Valley Health?
00:03 No decisions have been taken in relation to mergers which I know are being speculated about.
00:10 So it's important that we take this opportunity to look at the way we are delivering health
00:16 services right around our state and see whether they are optimal for the future.
00:20 So I have an expert advisory committee that is working with and has been consulting with CEOs
00:27 and board chairs on what's working and what's not working at the moment.
00:32 It's time that we look at our health service system and ensure that it is meeting the needs
00:37 of all Victorians no matter where they live and that includes people in this region.
00:44 I know for instance that Aubrey Woodonga Health already has some great partnerships and relationships
00:51 in place and is looking at relationships with Alpine Health, it's looking at Curriong Health.
00:58 I visited Tullangata Hospital myself recently and I would suggest that there are real opportunities
01:04 for a partnership there. One of the questions that I'm asking health service CEOs particularly
01:10 in rural and regional Victoria to think about how can we maximise the capacity in our small
01:16 health services because quite frankly we have health services that have more patients than
01:23 they can deal with and we have other health services that don't have, that have empty beds.
01:29 And simply that's not good enough.
01:31 It's not my understanding that that's the case.
01:33 So as the Minister said that there's a health services review going on system wide which is
01:37 from a governor's perspective, from the Minister's perspective good practice to do
01:42 every so often to make sure that resources and governance is as it should be.
01:46 I have no information around Golden Valley Health administering Aubrey Woodonga Health
01:50 in the long term.
01:51 Would you, if it came to that, would you argue that Aubrey Woodonga Health
01:55 should be quarantined given its particular status as a cross-border health service?
02:00 Well we see ourselves as a regional leader. I think we're one of the second largest regional
02:04 hospitals in the state so we believe that we're naturally positioned to lead our region
02:10 and whatever shape that leads.
02:13 [BLANK_AUDIO]