$1.6 million CHS ‘rebrand’ unlikely to fix underlying culture issues

Deputy Opposition Leader and Shadow Minister for Health Leanne Castley has once again blasted a $1.6 million rebrand for Canberra Health Services (CHS) and has called on the Minister to explain how the new logo will address systemic culture issues within Canberra Hospital.

Ms Castley said the Minister needs to first fix the underlying product before contemplating any rebrand.

“Recently released culture surveys highlight that staff trust in bosses within Canberra’s public health system had declined with only one-third of staff having ‘high trust’ in the executive team,” Ms Castley said.

“25 per cent of CHS staff also said there was no positive impact resulting from the last culture survey in 2021 compared to only 19 per cent who said there was.

“This new logo will do nothing to fix these alarming underlying cultural issues.

“The rationale that CHS had a ‘brand identity crisis’ and a rebrand would lift consumer perceptions and satisfaction along with CHS’ ability to attract high quality staff is hard to believe and I don’t think this rebrand exercise at a cost of $1.6 million will achieve that.”

Ms Castley said official briefs to the Health and Mental Health Ministers had predicted, “there may be concerns from the public and stakeholders on their perception of the value of the brand project in delivering benefit to consumers."

“I believe these warnings have been completely vindicated. The $1.6 million being spent on a rebrand would have paid for 60 hip replacements, 400 cataract operations or 600 MRI’s.

“A Canberra Liberals government will undertake a Royal Commission into the ACT health system if elected in October this year which will go a long way in addressing these systemic issues,” Ms Castley concluded.