The Southern Flinders and Port Broughton regions service plan aims to provide communities with safe, high quality, holistic services that improve health and wellbeing. It will consider Country Health Connect and mental health services for Crystal Brook District Hospital, Laura and Districts Hospital, and Port Broughton District Hospital and Health Service.

An advisory group has been established to undertake the planning process, with representation from local health service staff, Health Advisory Councils, consumers and leaders from Yorke and Northern Local Health Network (YNLHN), and staff from the Rural Support Service.

The advisory group is now seeking important input from the community to assist them in understanding local community need, experiences with public health services, and barriers to accessing services. Local residents and visitors are invited to complete a community survey to share their views, experiences and suggestions.

Feedback can be submitted via an online survey, which can be accessed by scanning QR codes on posters available on town noticeboards or by visiting Southern Flinders & Port Broughton Hospital & Health Services - Have your say! at https://bit.ly/SFPBServicePlanSurvey.

The survey is also accessible via the Yorke and Northern Local Health Network Facebook page, and hardcopies of the surveys will be available at local hospitals, GP Clinics, pharmacies and supermarkets.

Residents can also email Health.YNLHNHealthServicePlanning@sa.gov.au and request for someone to phone them to discuss their views.

Insights from the community survey and other targeted community consultation will form part of the foundation for a clinician workshop that will be held later in the year. Information gained from the community and clinicians will be taken into consideration by the steering group when developing the service plan.

The process is expected to be complete by the end of the year, with the group working together to develop a service plan for Southern Flinders and Port Broughton for the next five to 10 years.

The community survey is open until Friday 31 March 2023.

Quotes attributable to Quotes attributable to Yorke and Northern local Health Network Acting CEO and Chairperson of advisory group, Melissa Koch

The service planning process aims to identify and evaluate potential future service options for health services in Southern Flinders, Port Broughton and surrounding areas. Most importantly, it provides us with an opportunity to hear from our consumers and the wider community and examine local data for heath services in our areas.

We believe that working together to better understand the needs of our community is an essential and important part of this planning process.

This is the sixth service planning process undertaken by the Yorke and Northern Local Health Network, and we are pleased with the localised approach to each process.