Sustainability and Viability Initiative (SAVI)

Supporting sustainable primary care across the North Coast

The Sustainability and Viability Initiative (SAVI) is supporting general practices and Aboriginal Medical Services across the North Coast to better understand their current sustainability and viability, while providing access to practical support that strengthens long-term capability. 

SAVI at a glance

  • Voluntary and confidential
  • Available to general practices and Aboriginal Medical Services across Mid North Coast & Northern NSW
  • Assessment across 3 key domains – workforce, operations and finance
  • Tailored benchmarking report for participating practices
  • Ongoing practice support and capability building through the SAVI initiative.

What is SAVI?

SAVI is a practical tool designed to give practices a clearer picture of what’s working well and where there may be opportunities to strengthen sustainability over time, regardless of size, location or current circumstances.

The initiative helps general practices and Aboriginal Medical Services self-assess their workforce, operations and financial sustainability. Following completion of the assessment, participating practices receive a tailored benchmarking report that provides practical insights into their business and identifies opportunities for future planning and improvement.

Participation in the SAVI assessment is voluntary, and all assessment results remain confidential.

Program timeline

  • February 2026: SAVI assessment launched across the North Coast 
  • May 2026: Initial assessment period concluded and benchmarking reports prepared for participating practices. Interested practices can contact their Regional Manager following the initial assessment period. 
  • July 2026: Benchmarking reports released to participating practices.
  • July 2026 onwards: Phased rollout of practice support, consulting, education and capability-building activities. 
  • Early 2028: Participating practices will be invited to complete a follow-up SAVI assessment to measure progress, identify changes over time and inform future support. 

Who can participate?

The SAVI assessment is available to all general practices and Aboriginal Medical Services within the Healthy North Coast region.

What happens after the assessment?

Receiving your benchmarking report is the beginning of your SAVI journey.

Participating practices will receive ongoing support throughout the SAVI initiative. Depending on individual practice priorities and identified areas of focus, support may include:

  • A Practice Support Plan to capture priorities and guide improvement activities
  • Tailored consulting through Larter Consulting
  • Education and capability-building opportunities
  • Practical resources developed throughout the initiative
  • Ongoing support from their Healthy North Coast Regional Manager

Additional support activities and engagement opportunities will become available throughout the SAVI initiative, with further information shared as the program progresses.

Tailored practice support

As part of the next phase of SAVI, Healthy North Coast has partnered with Larter Consulting to provide practical, tailored support to participating practices.

Larter Consulting will work alongside participating practices to help teams better understand and interpret their benchmarking results, identify opportunities for improvement, and strengthen long-term sustainability.

Support may include:

  • Understanding and interpreting benchmarking reports, practice data and performance trends
  • Workforce planning and succession strategies
  • Operational improvement and workflow optimisation
  • Financial sustainability and business planning
  • Strategic planning and organisational capability development
  • Identifying opportunities for service innovation and growth

To learn more about Larter Consulting and the support available through SAVI, watch the introductory video below:

Interested in participating?

If your practice would like to learn more about SAVI or discuss participating following the initial assessment period, please contact your Healthy North Coast Regional Manager.

We are excited to roll out the SAVI assessment to support primary care providers in our region and to build a healthier North Coast.

The SAVI assessment has been developed and tested by Hunter New England and Central Coast PHN, in partnership with Semantic Consulting, who have been engaged to assist practices in our region interpret their data to best understand business needs.