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Ochre Health
Company typePrivate
IndustryHealth Care and Medicine
Founded2002
HeadquartersSydney, Australia
Area served
Australia
Key people
Dr Hamish Meldrum (Co-Founder)
Dr Ross Lamplugh (Co-founder)
Number of employees
180 (2014)
Websitewww.ochrehealth.com.au

Ochre Health is an Australian healthcare services company that is headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Ochre Health specialises in the provision of health services to outer-urban, regional and remote communities. Ochre Health is an ISO:9001 accredited organisation.[1]

History

Ochre Health was established in 2002 by doctors Hamish Meldrum and Ross Lamplugh.[2]

Meldrum and Lamplugh were providing General Practice and hospital services in the town of Bourke, NSW and were concerned by the lack of medical practitioner support that was available to them and their colleagues. The two doctors decided to take action by establishing a locum doctor recruitment agency, Ochre Recruitment. The service found itself in high demand, and enabled the creation of Ochre Health, which was responsible for providing on-going management of rural medical services that were under distress by providing recruitment, clinical and administrational governance.[3]

The Ochre Health Foundation was subsequently established in 2005 as a non-for-profit entity. The primary objective of the Foundation is to provide medical and allied health services to regional and remote communities to aid the prevention and control of chronic diseases.

Corporate affairs

Senior management

For the period 2002 to 2010, Dr Hamish Meldrum and Dr Ross Lamplugh provided corporate directorship and management of the company.

Services

Ochre Health provides a range of clinical management, governance and recruitment services, and employs approximately 400 staff across Australia. The company has also established relationships with universities to assist with medical student placements and the delivery of experimental programs into isolated communities.[4]

Ochre Health works with communities to assist them address their health workforce and health outcome challenges,[5] by partnering to develop a sustainable and community dictated model of operation.[6]

Services include:

Operations

Ochre Health currently provides medical services to communities across various states and territories of Australia including the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.

These communities exhibited unmet health staffing levels[7] before the organization commenced working with them, and now exhibit record levels of male and female medical practitioners.[8]

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Queensland

Victoria

Tasmania

Health outcomes

Background

Ochre Health has a record of providing medical services to communities that have experienced long-term difficulties in attracting and retaining appropriate levels of medical staff,[9] often due to their remoteness or their isolation from social services.[10]

The company also provides services to communities that have high levels of social disadvantage, health outcomes which fall below national averages, and hospitalization rates which fall above national averages.[11]

Primary health care

Ochre Health has been able to reduce hospitalization rates by up to 20%[12] in communities that exhibited hospitalization rates above national averages by increasing community access to medical practitioners, through which patients' health conditions can be managed, and by adopting best-practice primary care principles as a core tenet of their service delivery model.

The company has also pioneered several new protocols for managing primary care patients, which involves the provision of chronic disease management in towns with high levels of social disadvantage and rates of diabetes and other chronic conditions.[13]

Doctor retention

Ochre Health has a high doctor retention rate due to their supportive professional development approach toward current medical practitioners, and their ability to provide locum coverage through Ochre Recruitment, which plays a significant role in their ability to retain clinical staff in geographically remote locations.[14]

References

  1. ^ QCSE (2010); Certified Business Directory: Certification Register
  2. ^ "New management for doctors surgery". parkeschampionpost.com.au. Australian Community Media - Fairfax Media, Parkes Champion Post. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  3. ^ eHealth Space (2010); Ochre Health Stops Regional Paper Trail
  4. ^ Griffith University (2010); Rural, Remote and Indigenous Placement
  5. ^ The Canberra Times (2011); Great Expectations a Hurdle, Campaigner Says
  6. ^ ABC News (2011); People Power Builds New Medical Centre
  7. ^ Neighbourhood Watch (2011); At Last - Doctors 4 Calwell
  8. ^ Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (2006); How Chronic Workforce Issues Have Been Solved in Five Towns in Western NSW
  9. ^ WIN News (2010); Barham Medical Centre
  10. ^ Australian Doctor (2008); Smart Practice
  11. ^ Greater Western Area Health Service (2007); New Doctor Services At Coonamble And Lightning Ridge
  12. ^ The Age (2009); PM, States to Talk Health Reform at COAG
  13. ^ Rural Workforce Agency Victoria (2009); Brewarrina: A Case Study
  14. ^ Medical Observer (2009); Retaining Staff
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