Following comprehensive market testing, Mayne Health has been identified as the preferred tenderer to provide health services in Victoria to the ADF.

Delivery of the world’s best practice health care and service and the duty of care owed to ADF personnel are paramount to the Defence Health Service (DHS).

However, in an environment where the pool from which to draw professional and highly trained Defence health personnel is diminishing, reassessment of priorities is often required.

Director-General Defence Health Services Air-Cdre Tony Austin said it was difficult to release uniformed providers for military-focused training where their numbers at a facility were small.

“I can give an example of a doctor who may be working in a garrison situation, providing primary health care as a GP, but whose deployment role may be to run a resuscitation facility where they are dealing with multi-trauma victims,” he said.

“While the imperative remains to the delivery of world class, quality health care to all ADF personnel during peacetime and heightened operational tempo, the reality is that, in less critical areas, the provider of that care cannot always be a uniformed member of DHS.

“Clearly there is a skill mismatch between what they are doing in peacetime and what I expect of them in war.

“Bringing those people together into a smaller number of larger ADF health facilities actually facilitates their training and my ability to release them into the civilian sector to achieve the skills I want of them.”

DHS, as a direct contributor to ADF operational capability, has an obligation to ensure all its personnel have the necessary skills and training to maintain individual readiness.

This experience and exposure cannot be obtained through their general day to day clinical and medical practices.

“As a consequence, we have developed strategic alliances with certain civilian health facilities where I can place doctors, nurses and medics to get those skills.

It is very difficult, if not impossible, for me to do that when I have such a small number of people spread across a large number of bases.”

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