Local Health Advisory Committee brings together rural health stakeholders in Murrumbidgee region

Last Thursday, RDN CEO, Richard Colbran and RDN Service Delivery Operations Manager & Director, Kathy Hetherington, both represented RDN and presented at the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (LHD) Local Health Advisory Committee (LHAC) Forum in Leeton, NSW.

  
RDN was very pleased to be represented at the event and to support the LHACs initiative, which aims to engage and connect with local communities and help advocate for better health services.  There are now 33 of these volunteer-based committees across the Murrumbidgee LHD area and they are a strong example of partnership between the community, LHDs and PHNs, as recommended by in the NSW Government’s Rural Health Inquiry. Congratulations to health stakeholders in the Murrumbidgee region for all their efforts in this space! 

Richard Colbran participated in a panel discussion about ‘big picture innovation’ before delivering the keynote address about innovative practices in social leadership on Thursday evening at the Conference dinner. Richard discussed operating in a post-covid (political) environment and the regional health strategies in place following the outcomes of the NSW Rural Health Inquiry, whilst pointing out that a lot of the issues are not unique to ‘rural NSW’ but are affecting regional communities globally. 

Priority 6 of the NSW Regional Health Strategic Plan 2022-32 (to increase capability of leaders to develop and embed innovation) was explored as Richard described Innovation in Social Leadership as “a way of thinking and acting that aims to solve complex social problems and create positive change in communities.” 

He then went on to discuss RDN’s Community Solutions Method and RDN’s Innovation and Scaling Design Framework ©, stating that the target of innovation is to “address the beneficiary cohort’s need”.  Following some personal self-reflection that Richard shared with the group, he encouraged those present to operate with empathy, celebrate what (and who) we have and commit to having community at the centre of our common goal of  achieving better health outcomes for more people, for longer.