Case Study – a primary health care organisation responding to
increase in service demand in an economically constrained
environment
Emerging Futures Project
In 2012, the Office for the Community Sector engaged The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare to:
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scope the changing environment for community service organisations, with reference to the Protecting
Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry, pay equity and the modern award and other relevant policy
developments
suggest potential models that the sector might develop to respond to the changing environment
provide information about the approaches taken by some community service organisations dealing with
change in their operating environment.
The case study below outlines how some NFP’s have responded to the challenges emerging across the community
sector, to ensure longer term sustainability of their organisation:
The organisation
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Staffing: 450
Budget: $35 million
Services: Community support, family services, aged and disability services and community health.
The issues
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Rapid increases in population and increased service demands accompanying the population growth
High needs of immigrant and refugee communities
A context of significant resource constraints.
The organisational change
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Strategies to wind back a deficit and seek new program and funding opportunities
The development of new campuses and commitment to co-location and partnering
Improvement of buildings and development of infrastructure across the organisation.
The strategy
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Regular strategic planning processes, engaging other services operating in the same area to identify and
respond to needs in the growth areas and to source additional funding
A decision by the Board and senior management to make a small number of positions redundant and cease
backfilling staff. Other cost reduction exercises included cutting printing and stationery consumables and
travel and entertainment costs
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A project approach, seconding the CEO to oversee the process while a Program Director stepped into the
Acting CEO role for 12 months
Sourcing other revenue to support existing service delivery and using capital funding to expand and update
existing campuses and to develop new campuses and initiatives. One new campus co-located services
relating to child and family services across primary and secondary services. Another new initiative was the
development of a GP super clinic with Federal funding to provide a combination of private and public
services
Implementation of innovative program responses: for example, providing group work rather than individual
interventions to increase the number of clients seen, reducing translation costs by using video conference
translation and group translation, texting clients to reduce the number of missed appointments
Changing service responses at the micro level to address specific community needs: for example, within the
Maternal and Child Health service priority given to mothers with very young infants, a specific Vitamin D
clinic established for refugees
Communication strategies to inform service users of changes and any delays to service
The outcome
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The deficit was funded and a program of improving site infrastructure and numbers of service sites were
implemented, enabling:
o co-location with other services
o partnerships with for-profit providers
o services to be provided in local areas previously without services
o specific needs of specific communities to be addressed
o services at the one site across primary prevention and secondary intervention, thereby allowing
referral, collaborative practice and mutual learning.
Policy and program implications
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Financial governance is critical to enabling flexibility for community service organisations – for example,
simultaneously addressing an operational deficit resulting from changes in government funding while
drawing on reserves for capital investment allows the enhancement of services and development of new
services
Co-location can facilitate service provision across the service continuum where the services are auspiced by
different organisations
Significant investment by government in growth areas is necessary to strengthen program provision across
the service continuum
Service planning and responsiveness requires good research and timely information about population
movements and the specific needs of communities
The strengths and interests of staff across the organisation are essential to facilitating new opportunities.
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Published by
Office for the Community Sector
Department of Planning and Community Development
1 Spring Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000
Telephone 03 9208 3543
April 2013
Copyright State Government of Victoria 2011. This publication is copyright. No part of it may be reproduced by any
process except in accordance with provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Authorised by the Victorian Government,
Melbourne.
Accessibility
If you would like to receive this publication in an accessible format, such as large print or audio, please contact the
Office for the Community Sector on 03 9208 3543, or email communitysector@dpcd.vic.gov.au
This publication is also available at: http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/communitydevelopment/communitysector/resources-for-nfps/strategic-business-planning
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