Health Innovation and Care Economy Project

The Health Innovation and Care Economy – Towards a Regional Investment Strategy was led by the ERG and funded by the State Government’s Metropolitan Partnerships Development Fund.

Through region-wide research and engagement, the project aimed to strengthen collaboration around the region’s strengths and identify shared priorities for the health innovation and care sectors. The project will support economic recovery and lead to potential longer term-benefits through job creation and business innovation.

Consultants SGS Economics and Planning were engaged to create the strategy, in conjunction with the Project Working Group and stakeholders, to advance partnership priorities and inform advice to government.

As part of Stage 1, extensive research and stakeholder engagement was undertaken to establish a clearer picture of the region’s contribution to these important sectors. Five working papers and a summary report were produced in Stage 1. They are:

Summary report

1: Current Ecosystem

2: Economic forecast

3: Developing a Best Practice Health Care Economy

4: Best Practice Innovation

5: Community Wealth Building

The overall project was completed in December 2023.

A copy of the final Health Innovation and Care Economy Strategy can be found here.

Main aims of the project:

• Leverage existing regional strengths, including local world-class health precincts, research and development, and manufacturing capacity
• Capitalise on current government investment and projected future growth and innovation in MedTech, medical/health precincts and through clinical trials
• Future-proof against regional vulnerabilities and health challenges, such as an ageing population and COVID-19 recovery
• Address current and projected workforce and skills shortages impacting nursing, aged care, disability care, high skill innovation professionals and entrepreneurs.

Outcomes of the project:

The Eastern Reginal Health Innovation and Care Economy Strategy identified initiatives that leverage the Eastern Region’s strengths to support economic recovery and growth and having the potential to drive longer-term benefits. Thirteen potential projects across four focus areas were prioritised that could be delivered by stakeholders in partnership with State Government. They include:

1: Strengthening local supply chains

• Develop an investment prospectus to showcase the strengths of the Eastern Region, breadth of stakeholders and opportunities.
• Advocate for the State Government to partner with local government to develop a regional industrial land management strategy to protect existing industrial land and support future expansion of medical manufacturing and product development in the Eastern Region.
• Map the health manufacturing industries in the Eastern Region and existing supply chains, and potential opportunities to increase local supply chains and economic linkages.

2: Building a highly trained local workforce

• Support the delivery of the Outer Eastern Advanced Manufacturing Enterprise Hub.

3: Improving employment opportunities for local health workers

• Include affordable housing for key workers and students in close proximity to health infrastructure at the Box Hill Health Precinct (and potential state government land opportunities following the Suburban Rail Loop project) and the Maroondah Hospital redevelopment precinct.
• Map the health education, training, and service sector in collaboration with local Skills and Jobs Centres to understand who is in the Eastern Region, and the range of health services career pathways and training opportunities on offer to support people into these roles.
• Partner with the State Government to develop a business case for an Eastern Region Primary Health Clinical School – building the regional workforce across the primary health care sector.

4: Providing local health services that respond to local community needs

• Partner with the State Government to deliver the Eastern Clinical Trials and Research Centre (ECTRC) in the Box Hill Health Precinct.
• Partner with the State Government to ensure that the redevelopment of the Maroondah Hospital includes training and research, specialist care services, and the provision of an integrated model of care to service the access gap between the Eastern Region and Melbourne CBD.
• Scale up the delivery of the chronic disease Right Care = Better Health Service across the Region.
• Deliver Regional Integrated Health Needs Assessments to understand the local community needs now and into the future.
• Partner with the State Government to discuss how the Eastern Region can lead on the delivery of the outcomes of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System – with a specific focus on mental health and addiction.
• Develop a regional database of multicultural specialist support providers to enable GPs to refer clients to culturally sensitive and appropriate services.

The Strategy provides the starting point for realising the health care and innovation vision for the Eastern Region. It provides all levels of government with a collective understanding and prioritisation of health investment needs to:

• Prepare the region to better adapt, grow and be more resilient to rapid growth and economic structural change.
• Improve understanding of the region’s sectoral and sub-sectoral strengths, gaps and opportunities.
• Progress identified initiatives that assists to position the region as a key contributor to the health care and innovation ecosystem.

With continued support and the leadership from project partners, these projects could consolidate the Eastern Region as home to industry leading high quality health research, education, manufacturing, workforce, and services contributing to the broader Melbourne health network. These also support the opportunity to live in well serviced areas amongst the hills and green landscapes, with the aim to continue to be the region of choice for international, national, and local businesses and employees in the health innovation and care sectors.