Nurse Maude Association
RDNS and Nurse Maude Association signed a strategic alliance in November 1996. This formalised an agreement for both organisations to share and exchange knowledge and expertise in domiciliary health care. Nurse Maude Association is based in Christchurch, New Zealand, and is a living memorial to the pioneering work of Emily Sibylla Maude OBE, who dedicated her life to serving the needs of the elderly poor.
'Nurse Maude' was a contemporary of the nurses who originally staffed the Melbourne District Nursing Society, now Royal District Nursing Service. Their mission was the same: to provide healthcare to the sick poor.
Both organisations were originally supported by the generosity of private donors. The synergy between RDNS and Nurse Maude Association and information sharing enables both organisations to benefit through improvements to client care, strategic planning, education and training, quality standards and information systems.
Representatives of the Boards and Management from each organisation hold a joint leadership governance workshop every two years.
Hobart District Nursing Service
RDNS Service and Hobart District Nursing Service jointly represent two of the longest established district nursing services in Australia with a combined history of almost 220 years. A strategic alliance between the two organisations was signed in May 1999.
Their underlying philosophies are very similar, with great emphasis being placed on the principles of caring and compassion for clients as well as on valuing staff members. The development of close cooperative arrangements with Hobart District Nursing Service represents a natural extension to the work of RDNS over recent years in collaborating with similar providers of home-based care. RDNS Board and management believe that the development of such strong alliances is essential to best serve and protect the interests of clients and funders alike.
Four State Alliance
RDNS shares a close working arrangement between the 3 other major district nursing organisations in Australia: Silver Chain (Western Australia), RDNS SA (South Australia), and Blue Care (Queensland).
A strategic alliance was formalised between the organisations in 2000. This is facilitating greater collaboration and cooperation between the organisations in areas such as: performance indicators and benchmarking; client care systems; financial systems; staff, client and purchaser satisfaction surveys; employee benefit schemes; policies and procedures; fundraising; purchasing; staff training and development; information systems and marketing.
Chief Executives of the four organisations a number of times a year to discuss areas of mutual interest meet.
Municipal Association of Victoria
RDNS has formed a strategic alliance with the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV). MAV is the peak representative and lobbying body for Victoria's 78 councils. The strategic alliance facilitates an integrated system of community-based care to improve outcomes across the service system and at the individual and family level. Local government and district nursing together, represent a large portion of Home and Community Care (HACC) service delivery in Victoria and provide the majority of home-based community care.