The healthcare industry has reached a critical inflection point. The pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities puncturing hospitals and practices around the country, making it clear that our current systems are no longer fit for purpose. Leaders also are experiencing an upward battle with retaining a burnt-out workforce, all the while still navigating increasing skills shortages and hesitancy from new generations to take up the mantle of responsibility.
Change- culturally, socially and operationally- across the entire sector, is vital.
Despite this overwhelming appetite for change, reform is costly. The volatility of our current economic climate has amplified this reality, challenging healthcare professionals to push the creative boundaries of strategy to bring about new and innovative systems of difference. This process is long and incremental, requiring immense forward planning, analysing short-, medium- and longer-term implications. Leaders are challenged to consider what are the core, fundamental characteristics needed to redesign future services, keeping in-mind the influence of external pressures.
Across three states, over three different events, Philips and Deloitte, in partnership with Connect Media, brought leading healthcare professionals together to confront this current state of industry. National and Local Chief Officers, Directors and Managers, all with diverse health backgrounds, gathered at closed roundtables in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales. These roundtables were forums for candid discussion, drawing together different points of view from across the sector, delving into the core challenges shaping modern healthcare delivery: future reform and workforce shortages. The purpose, to collectively strategize practical solutions to build a more resilient healthcare system with those leading the charge.
These conversations were recorded, transcribed and summarised into this Whitepaper. Within its pages you will find a reflection of the discussions, insights, questions, and ultimately solutions, that fuelled each event as healthcare leaders confronted the presented theme. Attendees were granted anonymity in return for their honesty and candour. Here is an insight into what they had to say.