As Victoria adapts to healthcare changes, Kyabram’s health services continue to thrive and grow stronger.
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Thousands of patients walked through the doors of Kyabram District Health Service in 2025, and there is a sense of positivity about the service felt across the community.
To discuss another busy year on Fenaughty St, journalist Jemma Jones sat down with KDHS chief executive Anne McEvoy and board chair Chris Motton.
We try not to break the fourth wall too much here at the Free Press, but it would be remiss of me not to mention, in an article about what KDHS has done over the past year, that it has become a running joke how many times I have covered news at KDHS in the past 12 months.
“We should just set up a desk for you here, Jemma,” chief executive Anne McEvoy said.
It points to the steady development of the service that has been made in 2025; from long-running projects being completed and partnerships brewing better services, to development announcements that lay the foundation for the future of Kyabram’s health.
We started the year off with news that KDHS would be joining the Hume Local Health Network, aligning with Goulburn Valley Health as part of a revised state health system.
The three-year strategic plan was announced in January for a July 1 start, with board chair Chris Motton saying the alignment was not a surprise for the service.
“Ultimately most outpatient flows — even though we work very closely with Echuca — go to GV Health … so it made sense to align with that network,” Mr Motton said.
He said the networks would allow the services to have “shared goals” and work together with things such as staff retention, training and recruitment, and clinical service planning.
The network system is still in the “early days”, but Mr Motton’s hope is for KDHS to stay an individual service while working collaboratively on projects that will benefit the wider network.
“The concept of a lot of the things that we're working on is not new … it's just now a little bit more official, and there’s funding to enable it,” he said.
One of the bigger non-infrastructure-related projects was the commencement of a bulk-billed, after-hours GP service at KDHS.
Partnering with Murray Public Health Network, the service saw a gap in access to GPs after hours and on weekends, and a necessity to ease pressure on regional emergency departments — and the response has been a resounding success.
The clinic has seen upwards of 1000 patients since it began in April, with patients coming from all over Campaspe Shire for non-urgent, but essential appointments.
The service started as a trial funded by Murray PHN but was extended for a 12-month period after its observed success.
Ms McEvoy said after observing data, the service had seen “a plateau” of its urgent care numbers, while the fill rate for the clinic had pleasingly risen to 80 per cent.
The challenge KDHS now faces is sustaining the service with a shortage of doctors wanting to work regionally, and the uncertainty of extending the model past the 12-month period with the partnership with Murray PHN.
Ms McEvoy said KDHS had a number of “financial obligations to meet” as a public health provider, and the parameters of hosting the clinic were that it would not affect those financial obligations.
“Murray PHN are absolutely aware of that, and they’ve been good to work with in business modelling,” she said.
Mr Motton said even if the after-hours GP did not get picked up for another term, the service was committed to finding “new innovative ways” to keep people out of the hospital if they did not need to be there.
One of those ways is the Hospital in the Home program, which Ms McEvoy said had seen a 20 per cent jump in usage over the past 12 months.
“The changes in healthcare delivery, in general, not everything is bed-based anymore – which is great,” she said.
“One of our indicators from the department is how much of acute base care is being delivered at home.
“It's contemporary healthcare, and research shows better outcomes, less infections, less chances of falling – so it’s awesome.”
But more than anything, Ms McEvoy said the future of Kyabram’s health was about looking at what the community needed.
“I think that’s pretty clear next year, of how we design our services and workforce to accommodate what the future needs are,” she said.
Mr Motton echoed those sentiments.
“(The community) are the reason the hospital exists,” he said.
“We’re here to service the community — so it’s critical we listen to what they need.”
Top headlines for health in 2025
1. KDHS joins the state health service shake-up
Kyabram District Health Service is set to forge stronger ties with Goulburn Valley Health, marking a significant shift from its current Campaspe Shire health service alignment.
On Friday, January 10, the Victorian Government announced KDHS would be joining the newly formed Hume Local Health Network as part of a revised state health system.
The Hume Local Health Network, one of 12 new networks, aims to improve connections between local health services by unifying hospital administration systems across the region.
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2. Regional after-hours GP service to continue
An experimental health service, aimed at keeping care local and easing loads on emergency departments, has seen positive results.
Kyabram District Health Service’s after-hours primary care clinic will extend its stay in Kyabram an extra 12 months following a successful three-month trial period.
The bulk-billed service will be open on Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 5pm to help patients with non-urgent health concerns receive the care they need.
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3. New housing to attract healthcare professionals to Kyabram
Housing could be the solution to the regional healthcare crisis — at least that’s what the Kyabram District Health Service is hoping.
Forget the two-hour trip down the Hume Hwy, medical staff visiting KDHS will now have quality accommodation to call home for short-term visits as part of the hospital's broader strategy to attract healthcare professionals.
A one-bedroom unit was unveiled with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony following the KDHS annual general meeting on Thursday, November 27, with community members and hospital employees getting their first glimpse of the new accommodation that visiting health professionals will soon call home.
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4. Grand opening of Kyabram’s cleanest department
The Kyabram District Health Service might just have the cleanest room in town following the successful completion of its multimillion-dollar project.
The service’s new modernised central sterile services department was officially opened on Thursday, October 23 after undergoing redevelopment to ensure continued compliance with sterilisation standards.
The new department ensures surgical equipment stays clean, while also streamlining the sterile process through a new department layout, ensuring smooth progress of dirty instruments from the procedure room to the sanitiser.
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5. KDHS breaks ground on new education centre to tackle regional staff retention
The sod has been turned on a landmark project for the Kyabram District Health Service as it continues its battle against regional healthcare worker retention.
Designs for a $2.16 million education and training centre, which is now under construction, were presented to a select gathering of KDHS executives, staff members and special guests on Thursday, December 11.
The announcement of the new federally funded building was made only the week prior, with KDHS chief executive Anne McEvoy saying it would be used to “boost the capacity” of clinical education for future students, current staff and other medical professionals.