National Demonstration Hospitals Program

The National Demonstration Hospital Program (NDHP) was a program whereby Australian Government funding was provided directly to hospitals to support the development of new innovative care initiatives. The program had four phases, each of which involved different hospitals and targeted different issues in the acute care sector.

The National Demonstration Hospitals Program, Phase 1, was designed to identify and overcome the underlying causes of clinically unacceptable waiting times for elective surgery and was an initiative of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services.

NDPH Phase 2 was developed in response to the findings of NDHP Phase 1 and was undertaken between July 1997 and June 1998. NDHP Phase 2 was designed to identify and evaluate innovative service delivery approaches that would overcome barriers to efficient, high quality integrated management of all hospital admissions.

NDHP3 was a national program, conducted between July 1999 and March 2001, that supported 4 lead hospitals, 1 associate hospital, and 20 collaborative hospitals to actively facilitate integration across organisational boundaries.

Phase 4 of the National Demonstration Hospitals Program (NDHP) began in June 2002 and was completed in August 2003. Phase 4 aimed to identify innovative options to improve hospital based care for older Australians. Through this process, hospitals were encouraged to improve patient outcomes and deliver greater cost efficiences.