Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Minister for Health Nicola Roxon visited The Northern Hospital on Friday, August 14, and hosted a Health Reform Forum in the Hospital’s Education Centre.

Health care professionals, community representatives, officials from Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging and Northern Health staff attended the forum and discussed the future of health care in Melbourne’s northern suburbs and surrounding regional areas.

Northern Health CEO, Greg Pullen, said it was an honour to have both the Prime Minister and Health Minister host such an important forum at The Northern Hospital as well as take a tour of The Northern Hospital and meet with patients and staff in the Day Oncology unit.

“Northern Health provides excellent health services to more than 800,000 people across Melbourne’s northern suburbs.  Our Day Oncology Unit is a relatively new service that enables patients to receive day treatments here at The Northern Hospital instead of having to travel into the city or to other hospitals,” Mr Pullen said.

The Prime Minister and Health Minister met with staff from across Northern Health and commended them on the excellent care they have provided following the Black Saturday bushfires and the recent Swine Flu outbreak.

“The Northern Hospital was the first port of call for so many people injured on Black Saturday.  Staff in our Emergency Department and from across Northern Health worked under extremely difficult circumstances to treat patients here at the Hospital and also at evacuation centres.

“More recently, the collaboration between Northern Health and Plenty Valley Community Health to run the extremely successful swine flu clinic demonstrated the importance of health care partnerships.

“It was wonderful for staff to receive such heartfelt thanks from the Prime Minister and Minister for Health.  For many staff members knowing that their efforts have not gone unnoticed by the Prime Minister was very encouraging to hear.

“I’d also like to thank all staff who were involved in the preparation for the Prime Minister’s visit for their effort as the day was a huge success,” Mr Pullen said. 

More information about the Forums can be found http://www.health.gov.au.

Media Release about the South Morang GP Super Clinic.