Environmental Scan and Analysis: Health Services in Murrumbidgee

This report presents an environmental scan of health services, focusing on the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (LHD) in New South Wales, Australia. It examines the use of environmental scanning in healthcare, including its application in designing health programs and understanding the local context. The report discusses the demographic and socioeconomic factors of the Murrumbidgee region, the technological changes, and the increasing immigrant population. It highlights the achievements and strategic plans of the MLHD, including infrastructure improvements and community engagement. The report also reviews data collection methods, including market research and morbidity/mortality data, to inform policy decisions and assess the needs of stakeholders. It emphasizes the importance of primary data and stakeholder needs in environmental scanning to develop effective health policies. References to relevant studies and frameworks are included to support the analysis.

Running Head: HEALTH SERVICES
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Question 1
Environmental scan came from business contexts as a method of retrieving and
organizing data that could be used in decision making. Environmental scans have hence been
used in the investigation of external factors which are primary to success of a community project.
The scans offer knowledge to decision makers concerning the current social and political context
and offer long term shifts. Environmental scan helps a population to plan for its future.
Environmental scans have been used to health, nutrition, aboriginal issues and knowledge
transfer (COUNCIL, 2016). They are used to design health programs geared towards the
incorporation of the needs of various populations.
Question 2
The Murumbidgee local health district has two local hospitals, one in Wagga Wagga and
another in Griffith. Demographically, Murumbidgee has 94,500 households which rely on
environmental scanning for their well-being. The people of Murumbidgee also have poor
sanitation and comparative disorderliness related to the aboriginality (Frammar, 2016). There
have been technological changes whereby the facilities used to deal with modern housing have
been introduced in almost every part of Murumbidgee. The number of immigrants has been
increasing rapidly and hence economic development has been evident in the recent years. There
is hence need for environmental scanning to take care of the growing economy.
Question 3
Murumbidgee local health district is situated in the south NSW. The LHD present are
considered inner regional and outer regional with one remote locale. The resident population is
estimated to be 243,000 as of June 2016 (Cottingham, Thoms, & Quinn, 2016). The MLHD has
made significant achievements in improving the health sector including the development of the

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strategic plans to build on the organizations strengths and development of the sustainability of
LHD.MLHD has put more effort in improving its health infrastructure and also engages with the
community (Mitchell , Nicholson, & McDonald, 2017). Several aspects have also been put
across to focus on the standards of Murrumbidgee local health district including the updating on
the service planning of Griffith Hospital in Murrumbidgee.
Question 4
Environmental scan has been carried out by center for health development, NSW health,
Australian health research Institute and the University of Wollonggong to inform the public on
the quality of HealthCare (Kingsford & Thomas, 2014). The Australian ministers endorsed the
Australian safety quality framework for healthcare and the national leadership developed
measures of patient experience via a program job in this field (Cottingham, Thoms, & Quinn,
2016). The NSW came up with a population health research that was meant to enhance the usage
of the research done from the research population. Environmental scan in this matter was
important for offering a comprehension of research environment in the rural areas since 22% of
the population in NSW lives in rural areas.
Question 5
Relevant data
For effective environmental plan, the useful data may be collected from market research
studies. This data is highly valuable for environmental scanning. There was data collected on
both morbidity and mortality so that it would be easy for policy makers to implement policies
with ease. There was also data collected on the burden of diseases to Murrumbidgee region. This
data would be significant in knowing the level of dependency in the region (Murphy, Sabesan, &
Steer, 2016). It is also possible to set up a benchmark of metrics that will compare the

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performance of the organization, the financial well-being and other important aspects to other
similar organizations or industry (COUNCIL, 2016). This will enable the population to have
current information concerning the external environment and hence develop strategies to cope up
with.
Question 6
The valuation provides data that has a direct bond with the needs of the sponsors in the
community in which the environmental scanning is taking place (David, Setchen , & Jillian ,
2017). The stakeholders’ needs are required so as to carry out analysis by the use of first hand
data from the sampled groups. The drawn insights from the data collected could be used as a
reflection of the needs of the selected population from the country. The latter could be needed in
mapping a step in environmental scanning. The primary data collected will also be helpful in
environmental scanning since it will be the real data from the ground and will consist of little or
even no bias. Data collected in this region will enable the decision makers to come up with
relevant policies that will be helpful to the community members

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References
Cottingham, P., Thoms, M. C., & Quinn, G. P. (2016). Scientific panels and their use in
environmental flow assessment in Australia. Australasian Journal of Water Resources,
5(1), 103-111.
COUNCIL, W. W. (2016). WAGGA WAGGA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA
MURRUMBIDGEE RIVER FLOOD MODELLING. Sydney: St. Martin Press.
David, B., Jill, M., & Brimson , S. (2017). Community awareness of the availability of health
services and information-seeking practices across a large health service district in rural
Australia. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 10(1), 67-87.
Frammar, J. (2016). Mental health coordinating council and issues affecting residents of
Murumbidgee (Vol. 3). Melbourne: St. Peters Press.
Kingsford, R. T., & Thomas, R. F. (2014). Destruction of wetlands and waterbird populations by
dams and irrigation on the Murrumbidgee River in arid Australia. Environmental
management, 34(3), 384-387.
Mitchell , G., Nicholson, C., & McDonald, K. (2017). Enhancing palliative care in rural
Australia: the residential aged care setting. Australian journal of primary health, 15(1),
97-104.
Murphy, C., Sabesan, S., & Steer, C. (2016). Oncology service initiatives and research in
regional Australia. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 12(4), 132-136.