Top of health list

SOUTHERN Health, operators of the Casey and Dandenong Hospital, has been named the State’s most outstanding metropolitan health service of 2005.
Presenting the award at the recent Victorian Public Healthcare Awards, Health Minister Bronwyn Pike hailed the health service’s remarkable turnaround in the past year, which has seen both financial targets and patient targets improve significantly.
The health service was also recognised for its work in developing and improving maternity services.
Ms Pike said Southern Health was now a leader in maternity systems and services.
She said Southern Health’s recent highlights included the staged opening of the new Casey Hospital – a 229-bed facility in Berwick – a new 25-bed mental health ward and the Elective Surgery Access Service for cataract treatment in Cranbourne, which conducts 30 per cent of the state’s cataract surgery.
Southern Health is also the statewide provider of breast prostheses service for women who have undergone a mastectomy.
Casey Hospital executive director Peter Faulkner said the award was a terrific acknowledgment of a huge effort by the hospital’s dedicated and capable staff.
“We feel privileged to be able to provide a growing community with these much needed health services,” he said.