Western Victoria's health services will soon become one after the amalgamation of four hospitals was approved by the state government.
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Ballarat Health Services will join with Edenhope and District Memorial Hospital, Stawell Regional Health and Wimmera Health Care Group to create Grampians Health under the voluntary amalgamation plans.
The amalgamation was approved by Minister for Health Martin Foley on Thursday after he was 'satisfied that it would deliver benefits to the community'.
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The approval comes after 18 months of work including staff and community consultation amid a time when the four services worked closely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After working together through the pandemic in a joint approach, the four hospitals explored formalising the partnership through an amalgamation.
Conversations around amalgamation started between Ballarat Health Services and Wimmera Health Care Group in late-2020 before the amalgamation plans were announced in July.
All four services launched a website earlier this year to allow people to give feedback regarding the proposed amalgamation.
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Patients at each of the services, including Ballarat, will continue to be able to access care from their local facility, with no loss of services.
Staffing levels will also remain the same, with staff to be retained at their current place of work unless they wish to change.
The state government said the integration would provide communities with greater access to clinical expertise and options for care closer to home and 'help safeguard and nurture the career paths of their valued staff'.
The state government also said engagement with all local communities would continue under the new health service, including during the service planning process.
Grampians Health will formally come into being on November 1 and nine out of the 10 board members come from the merged health services, with all four services gaining representation on the Grampians Health board.
Mr Foley said the creation of Grampians Health would provide a strong, integrated health service to benefit the health and wellbeing of the local community.
"We're ensuring all Victorians have access to the high-quality health care and services they need and deserve close to home," he said.
"The community were involved every step of the way - everyone involved can be proud of what Grampians Health brings for the future."
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