Loddon pilot critical to children and families brings services together.
Developing a clinical governance model that could function effectively across multiple organisations was a challenge Larter Consulting was asked to solve recently to help lay the foundations for a key program to assist children and families in need.
The Loddon Children’s Health and Wellbeing Local is one of three pilot projects in Victoria and the only one of its type in a rural setting.
Bendigo Community Health Services is the lead agency working with another eight organisations, each with their own services and responsibilities.
Larter Consulting was asked to bring these organisations together to establish a clinical governance model that would strengthen this partnership.
Children’s Health and Wellbeing Locals provide services for children up to 11 years of age, including paediatric health, psychology, mental health support, parenting support and specialist assessments, underlying the diversity of services available.
Larter’s Senior Associate Consultant Marianne Shearer says bringing multiple organisations together under the one-system clinical governance ‘roof’ was a big challenge.
“We wanted to harness and empower a community of care that was always in reach for families and children in need,” Shearer said.
“It was critical that the lived experience of children and their families was central to our thinking.”
Larter embarked on an eight month engagement with stakeholders from all organisations, coming back to them regularly and always referencing previous feedback.
“Building trust between partners big and small was crucial.
We worked with lovely people willing to work together and they have led us to something truly inspiring. I loved hearing all the reflection and feedback as ideas and plans took shape. It was a real honour to support this partnership journey and produce a practical plan.”
The Loddon Child Local integrated team now has the capacity and expertise to run its own clinical governance model and start to implement exciting action plans.
Julie Cairns, Operations Manager, Family Services for lead agency Bendigo Community Health Services, says building such a strong partnership across multiple providers for the Loddon service was a direct result of the consultative and collaborative approach taken by Larter.
“The approach Marianne took multiple times with each organisation to seek everyone’s voice and present that feedback back to the group was critical in bringing people together and removing any concerns or barriers.
The process often involved robust conversations to identify the key risks and challenges as well as the opportunities such a pilot program offers.
It is all about connecting a child and family in rural setting with a single contact point for vital services that families need for their children.
I can’t speak highly enough of the critical thinking and leadership Larter and Marianne in particular provided. It was such a valuable experience for everyone to be involved in.
The clinical governance model is something we can hold on to, use every day, and puts us in good shape as we tackle our action plan.”
The Loddon Children’s Health & Wellbeing Local is led by BCHS, in partnership with Bendigo Health and regional partners Bendigo and District Aboriginal Cooperative, Njernda Aboriginal Corporation, Echuca Regional Health, Dhelkaya Health, Sunbury Cobaw Community Health, North Central LLEN and Maryborough District Health.
Larter was pleased to partner with these organisations. Contact us to explore how Larter can help your organisation and community through shared program design and meaningful evaluation.