Talk:Sydney South West Area Health Service

Establishment of Local Hospital Networks
On 29 September 2010, the NSW Government announced the final boundaries for new Local Health Networks (LHNs). NSW will have 18 LHNs in place from 1 January 2011 with eight LHNs covering the Sydney metropolitan region, and seven covering rural and regional NSW. Two specialist networks will focus on Children's and Paediatric Services, and Forensic Mental Health. A third network will operate across the public health services provided by three Sydney facilities operated by St Vincent's Mater Health: these include St Vincent's Hospital and the Sacred Heart Hospice at Darlinghurst and St Joseph's at Auburn.

To support well-established clinical networks across the NSW public health system, three Clinical Support Clusters will also be established to ensure vital, state-wide services continue to function across the LHNs in key areas such as cancer, renal, Aboriginal and mental health. The Networks will be administered by a Chief Executive and local Governing Council that will include clinicians, healthcare management experts and community representatives. Existing local Health Advisory Councils will continue to play a role in ensuring hospital administrators are aware of community needs and expectations. With the significant increase in localisation and specialisation comes an added responsibility that every public health organisation in NSW meets high standards of patient care.

The question now lies, where does this page sit? Should seperate pages be created for the 18 LHNs? It is interesting to note that only one AHS has not been dismantled, covering Hunter/New England. Jherschel (talk) 04:16, 2 October 2010 (UTC)