Earlier today, Northern Health hosted the 2022-23 Northern Health Annual Meeting.

Held virtually, the Northern Health Board and Executive were joined by members of our local community, including consumers, partners, volunteers, and of course, our wonderful staff, to hear about the health service’s highlights and achievements from the 2022-23 financial year.

Jennifer Williams AM, Board Chair, opened the meeting, acknowledging that, although we have many exciting projects and developments on the horizon in 2024, today was about looking back at 2022-23, and some of the highlights during this time.

“Following from the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s mental health system, Northern Health became a designated mental health service on 1 July 2022,” said Ms Williams.

“Our Australian-first, Virtual Emergency Department became a state-wide service, and was renamed the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department.”

“We also had productive discussions with Kilmore District Health about a voluntary amalgamation, which would see significant benefits to the Northern and Kilmore communities. This was effectuated in the current financial year, and I look forward to sharing more about this work next year.”

Siva Sivarajah, Chief Executive, reflected on the operational achievements.

“While we continue to treat COVID-19 patients, we have worked hard to integrate this care into our normal health services and have seen a return to some level of business as usual,” said Mr Sivarajah.

“Delays to our elective surgeries were necessary for us to prioritise care for COVID-19 patients. However, we have been able to increase elective surgery over the past year, performing 20,287 procedures – the highest number since 2020. As a result, our wait list is almost back to where it was before the pandemic.”

“In the past financial year, we admitted 114,224 patients to hospital, conducted 254,397 specialist appointments and assisted with the birth of 3,252 babies,” Mr Sivarajah said.

“Northern Health experienced substantial growth, a trend which we expect to continue over the next few years. We are committed to investing back into our services, infrastructure and staff, so we can continue to meet the growing and diverse needs of our community.”

Basil Ireland, Chief Financial Officer, presented the Financial Report, which included an operating surplus of $0.4m. This is in comparison to an operating surplus of 0.1m in the previous financial year.

Mr Sivarajah was also proud to acknowledge the hard work of all staff at Northern Health.

“We are grateful to each of our staff for their continued support and commitment to Northern Health. Our values of safe, kind and together continue to underpin the work of our staff, and has been the driving force behind our achievements,” said Mr Sivarajah.

“2024 is shaping up to be an exciting year, and I am proud of what we, as an organisation, have achieved to keep our community safe and healthy.”

Featured image: Basil Ireland, Chief Financial Officer, Jennifer Williams AM, Board Chair and Siva Sivarajah, Chief Executive.

You can watch the full Annual Meeting here.

Read more about Northern Healths highlights and Achievements in the Northern Health Annual Report here.

Watch the below video to see some of the highlights from 2022-23.