The Women’s has launched our new Strategic Plan 2026–2030, setting a bold direction for improving outcomes for women and newborns, and helping shape the future of women’s health.
Guided by three strategic priorities, transforming care, strengthening the system and driving discovery, the plan provides a clear framework to reinforce the organisation’s efforts and extend its impact.
The Women’s Chief Executive Officer, Professor Sue Matthews, said the strategy builds on the hospital’s longstanding commitment to exceptional care while recognising our broader role in influencing change across the health system.
“Our new Strategic Plan sets out how we will continue to deliver exceptional care, improve outcomes for women and newborns, advance health equity, strengthen our people and culture, and lead innovation across the health system,” Professor Matthews said.
“It provides a clear direction for achieving lasting impact for the communities we serve, while ensuring the Women’s remains a leading voice in women’s health nationally and internationally.”
Three strategic priorities
At the heart of the strategy is a commitment to creating lasting impact.
The plan is guided by three strategic priorities:
- Transform care: Deliver best-practice care to create exceptional and equitable experiences and outcomes.
- Strengthen the system: Elevate health system capacity and capability.
- Drive discovery: Advance knowledge to improve health outcomes nationally and internationally.
Together, these priorities will focus the Women’s efforts on some of the most significant challenges in women’s and newborn health and research.
This includes advancing sex and gender equity in healthcare, improving pathways to parenthood, enhancing maternity experiences, addressing pelvic pain, improving access to abortion and contraception care, and improving outcomes for the most vulnerable babies.
Partnering for change
The strategy recognises that the future of women’s and newborn health extends well beyond the walls of the hospital. Through its partnerships across the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct, the Parkville Local Health Service Network, and across Victoria and elsewhere, the Women’s has an opportunity to collaborate on ground-breaking research, to innovate on new models of care, build capability and improve access and outcomes for communities far beyond those we directly serve.
“Meaningful change does not happen in isolation. It happens when care, capability and knowledge move together, at scale,” Professor Matthews said.
“Our partnerships, our people and the voices of our patients and communities will be central to delivering this strategy.”
The Strategic Plan 2026–2030 was developed with input from staff, consumers, partners and community members, who contributed their expertise, insights and lived experience.
Read: The Women’s Strategic Plan 2026–2030 (PDF).
