Grampians Region Executive Nurse Network (GRENN)

The Grampians Regional Executive Nurses Network (GRENN) aims to provide a regional forum in which executive nursing staff can meet and discuss issues in a supportive environment. The network was initiated because of issues that executive nursing staff were experiencing in the region. Some of the issues include:

• greater demands and responsibilities through expanded roles
• professional isolation and lack of peer support
• health workforce shortages.

GRENN membership include executive nurses from the 12 health services the constitute the Grampians health care system, Ballarat District Nursing and Healthcare, and representatives from the Grampians Office of the Department of Health. GRENN members work collaboratively to facilitate discussion about these issues and develop appropriate strategies which could be applied at a regional level or individual agency level. Major projects facilitated through GRENN include:

• The Rural Health Bank (RHB) Pilot (now called CasConnect) is a project now managed by Stawell Regional Health on behalf of Department of Health and rural health services.

• The Grampians Loddon-Mallee eLearning Project is a collaborative venture between the Grampians and Loddon-Mallee regions of Victoria and e3Learning. The Portal provides access to online learning resources for 39 health services across the two regions. Funding for the project has been provided by the Victorian Government's Department of Health.

Updated December 2011