Mater Private Hospitals—embracing change

There is little doubt that the greatest challenge facing insured and non-insured health in the immediate future is the global shortage of qualified clinical staff. Both doctors and nursing staff are in great demand throughout the world and the problem is compounded by an aging population putting greater demands on health services.

In 2003, there were 1106 full time equivalent nurses and 279 full time doctors per 100 000 people in Australia. Interestingly, Australia's total overall population increases by one person every two minutes and nine seconds. So, even to sustain the 2003 balance, one full time nurse needs to enter the overall population approximately every 3.2 hours and a full time doctor approximately every 12.8 hours.

But sustaining the balance is not enough and it is healthcare itself that is against us. Improved medical technology and health programs are helping to increasing an individual's length of stay on earth, which means a lower ratio of people in full time work and fewer full time clinical staff per 100 000 people.

But it's not all doom and gloom. We just have to change the way we approach our services and change we have.

Since 2003, at Mater Private Hospital Brisbane we have regularly reviewed our service profile and the way we interact with our staff and business partners. This process of review has seen:

• the redevelopment of the Mother Patrick Potter building to become Mater Private Hospital Annerley Road,
• the implementation of theatres nine and ten,
• a private Health and Wellness Clinic,
• enhancement of the Women's Health Unit at Redland,
• provision of Business Development programs for VMOs, Registrars and Practice Managers
• the implementation of Milliman Care Guidelines.

This year, Mater Private Hospital Brisbane and Mater Private Hospital Redland have made arguably the most important cultural change in our history. We changed the way we welcome new staff. Driven by a commitment to retaining exceptional people and an unsustainable growth in agency staff costs, we designed and implemented the Mater Private Hospitals Welcome Program.

Unlike more generalised orientation modules, Mater Private Welcome Program runs for five days and provides a comprehensive orientation program that is both informative and mission-driven. The Welcome Program has been a huge success and we're excited by the impact it has had on staff.

As we move into 2006, Mater Private Hospitals will continue to work closely with VMOs, health funds and nursing staff to find the balance that will enable us to continue to provide exceptional care for private patients and extend our support for the Mission of Mater Health Services to meet unmet needs.