OUR YEAR IN REVIEW

2019/20

Our year in review 2019/20

About us

Ballarat Community Health (BCH) exists to ensure that people from all walks of life can access quality health care, no matter their circumstances. Our vision is that all people within the communities we support achieve the best possible health and wellbeing.

Our services are wide-reaching and include both a health and wellbeing focus. From primary care to community programs, we work to ensure a holistic approach is taken to better health. We know everyone is different and we work with the community wherever possible to create consumer-led and informed services, ensuring more effective care for individuals and their individual needs.

About us

Ballarat Community Health (BCH) exists to ensure that people from all walks of life can access quality health care, no matter their circumstances. Our vision is that all people within the communities we support achieve the best possible health and wellbeing.

Our services are wide-reaching and include both a health and wellbeing focus. From primary care to community programs, we work to ensure a holistic approach is taken to better health. We know everyone is different and we work with the community wherever possible to create consumer-led and informed services, ensuring more effective care for individuals and their individual needs.

About Us

Our Mission

To work in partnership with the community to create opportunities and supportive environments which empower people to develop and maintain optimal health and wellbeing.

Our mission

To work in partnership with the community to create opportunities and supportive environments which empower people to develop and maintain optimal health and wellbeing.

Our Mission

Our Values

Our team works hard to ensure that clients feel comfortable, listened to, cared for and informed on their journey through the healthcare system. We stay true to our values and strive to show these attributes at all times:

  • Respect: Valuing other points of view and treating all people as individuals with worth and dignity.
  • Integrity: Acting with sincerity and honesty.
  • Responsibility: Being reliable and accountable to others.
  • Optimism: Focusing on potential and abilities.
  • Courage: Facing challenges head on and standing up for our convictions.
  • Resilience: The ability to be strong in adversity and bounce back with renewed energy and hope.

Our Values

Our team works hard to ensure that clients feel comfortable, listened to, cared for and informed on their journey through the healthcare system. We stay true to our values and strive to show these attributes at all times:

  • Respect: Valuing other points of view and treating all people as individuals with worth and dignity.
  • Integrity: Acting with sincerity and honesty.
  • Responsibility: Being reliable and accountable to others.
  • Optimism: Focusing on potential and abilities.
  • Courage: Facing challenges head on and standing up for our convictions.
  • Resilience: The ability to be strong in adversity and bounce back with renewed energy and hope.
Our Values

Organisational report

OUR AREAS OF WORK

Social Support

The Social Support division provides a range of services to children, young people and adults. Social Support staff work with individuals and families who want to make positive changes in their lives. Our purpose is to assist people to achieve their goals and we help them to do this by empowering them to recognise their strengths, learn new skills, link to their community and practice new ways of dealing with the barriers to meeting their goals.

Social Support

Primary Care

The Primary Care division provides responsive and timely services to individuals, organisations and the community. Working across a range of locations, the team works to strengthen BCH’s quality healthcare provision and to build the organisation to be a preferred provider of General Practice, Allied Health, and Specialist Services. All facets of our Primary Care division operate within effective clinical governance and quality frameworks.

Primary Care

Social Support

The Prevention and System Development Division reduces barriers to good health and wellbeing and addresses priority health issues using a mix of individual and population-based initiatives. The Division leads the planning and delivery of BCH’s health promotion, health advocacy and community development work. We partner with a range of services and programs to aid local refugee and immigrant communities and we partner with local government, non-government organisations, workplaces, health and educational providers on a range of initiatives to address health, wellbeing and educational needs.

Prevention & System Development

Social Support

The Corporate Services division provides high quality support services to the whole of BCH in the areas of Customer Service, Finance, Human Resources, Information Services, Facilities, Fleet, Volunteers and Student Placements. As a highly dynamic group, the division remains continually focused on both efficient service and continuous quality improvement.

Corporate Services

2020 Highlight

Howitt St Development

Howitt St Development

In January this year we opened Ballarat’s newest GP and allied health clinic in Wendouree: a safe and welcoming space for people from all backgrounds. It was wonderful to see our community so enthused about it, with hundreds turning up for the opening of the site.

Dubbed a ‘welcoming oasis of calm and colour’ by the Ballarat Courier, the site boasts state-of-the-art facilities and equipment for the resident GPs and allied health professionals, including podiatrists, counsellors and dietitians.

There are plans to forge a network with other health care groups in the burgeoning medical precinct so clients can be referred to other services within a short walk.

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brand new general practice and allied health clinic, fitted-out and fully operational
0
young people provided with care via headspace mental health services
0 +
media opportunities taken up across various television, radio and newspaper outlets

2020 Highlight

Covid-19 Response

COVID-19 Response

Our team adapted quickly to a new model of operation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and have done an extraordinary job over this unprecedented time. This included the introduction of telehealth services, and the redeployment of staff to different sites and roles, such as triage at our front entrances, to accommodate the rapidly shifting healthcare landscape.

To bolster the face-to-face work being done onsite, we also developed significant health promotion resources, signage, social media messaging and other community information to keep stakeholders, staff and clients informed of all changes to the (everchanging) working environment.

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patients attended primary care appointments
0
telehealth consultations since March (COVID Response)
0
mental health consultations for more than 700 patients

2020 Highlight

FORENSIC MENTAL HEALTH

Forensic Mental Health

This year our forensic mental health team, operating out of the BCH Victoria Street site, became increasingly aware of the important role they were playing in assisting vulnerable clients through the pandemic. The team and our clients quickly adapted to virtual assessments and treatment, and we discovered this actually helped with compliance and engagement in treatment.

Clients told us they found it easier to participate when arranging transport, preparation to attend on time and managing underlying anxiety weren’t mitigating factors. We also wanted to challenge and work through why clients were not engaging in treatment options.

We sought first-hand experience from existing clients who then became our ‘insight gatherers’, and we used their knowledge and lived-experience to build more appropriate services and communication.

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food baskets & other essential items provided weekly to approximately 40 community members without any income due to COVID-19
0
primary schools, early childhood settings & kindergartens in Ballarat supported to undertake healthier eating, physical activity, dental health and mental wellbeing activities
0 +
students took part in sexual health & respectful relationships learning sessions

2020 Highlight

RECONCILIATION ACTION PLAN

Reconciliation Action Plan

Over the last couple of years we have been working to develop a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to affirm and formalise our commitment to building and maintaining respectful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Organisations and Communities.

The RAP has three key pillars—Respect, Relationships and Opportunities—with specific actions and deliverables of relevance to each. BCH will continue to work through the action items included in the document into 2021, while also starting to work on our next plan. The RAP is available to view online at bchc.org.au/rap/.

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0
volunteers working with BCH (average over 12 months)
0
hours of Allied Health treatment, education & care
0
conference presentations given (national & state-wide audiences)
0
lived-experience & peer workers employed to better understand client perspectives
0 +
alcohol & other drug treatment sessions held each week
0
brochures, flyers & other health and wellbeing collateral created

OUR LOCATIONS

For the full 2019/20 Annual Report or more information about any of our services or programs, visit www.bchc.org.au

ACN: 136 362 993
ABN: 98 227 492 950

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