South Gippsland Shire Council

NMC successfully support the development of South Gippsland’s Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan

Ninety Mile Consulting (NMC) have had an outstanding experience with the South Gippsland Shire Council (SGSC) over the past few months.

Since March, NMC have been supporting SGSC with the development of their 2022-2025 Municipal Public Health & Wellbeing Plan. NMC were originally tasked with understanding how both internal and external stakeholders were working towards the previous health and wellbeing priorities across the region. However, with the impact of COVID-19, priorities inevitably shifted.

In order to gain increased understanding of South Gippsland’s current health and wellbeing state, NMC engaged with over 30 external organisations in the area, and multiple internal stakeholders at the council to gain clarity of where the community currently stood.

To create a uniform process, NMC utilised the Victorian Health and Wellbeing Plan to guide the priorities. NMC coupled these priorities with a scoring methodology that would ultimately allow SGSC to identify their stakeholders’ health and wellbeing focus.

Future Planning for Health and Wellbeing across South Gippsland

ALIGNING THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING VISION ACROSS THE REGION

NMC engaged in quantitative analyses (i.e., community survey data, previous council plans, and health data) and qualitative analyses (i.e., external consultations) to identify which of the 10 priorities were the greatest focus across the community.

Through the multi-phased approach, NMC were able to provide SGSC with a clear depiction of the entire journey, and the resultant top five priorities for the upcoming five years. Highlighting the top five priorities has provided SGSC with the opportunity to focus on the health and wellbeing areas that are currently receiving the most attention, whilst also developing strategies to account for priorities that have been minimised as a result of the COVID-pandemic. Working alongside SGSC throughout the project has been a seamless experience, and we are grateful for the connections that have been developed over the course.

NMC have first-handedly seen the passion for the South Gippsland community, through the hours of interaction with individuals at the Council. We are excited to see SGSC increase and consolidate their alignment with health and wellbeing organisations across the region.

After completing community consultation, the plan will enable SGSC to continue to support health and wellbeing providers in the region to have a positive impact on the community.