New directors for health board

BENDIGO Health will appoint three new board directors next month.

City of Greater Bendigo CEO Craig Niemann, professor of occupational therapy and deputy-dean of La Trobe University Rural Health School’s occupational therapy program Carol McKinstry, and chief of staff and general counsel at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Will Conlan will join the oversight groups on Saturday 1 July.

Bendigo Health chair Dr Ewa Piejko said the new members were chosen based on the knowledge and experience they could bring to the skills-based board of nine people.

“We wanted to try and recruit directors that were from our region, because… it was important for us to try and get people who were local so they really understood what our community was about,” said Dr Piejko.

“I’m very excited to have such skilled and experienced people who are local from our region, because I believe they will bring a lot of new ideas and fresh eyes to the board, and a really good understanding of our community and our region and the needs for our people here.”

Issues the Bendigo Health board are set to tackle include clinical services, workforce numbers, and safety and quality of work at the centre.

“We’re continuing to work on our clinical services plan, looking at where we’re going to in the future, which services need to be built up, and where we need to be looking to strengthen some of the services we provide,” she said.

“The ongoing issue is around workforce, I think that’s pretty clear for everybody.

“Ensuring we provide a safe and great place to work is really important, and retaining workforce is a really important priority to us.”

Dr Piejko said they will also continue to work on safety and quality throughout the organisation and implement recommendations from the Royal Commissions into mental health and aged care.

“They’ve been two really big bits of recommendations that have come down from Government, and we’ve got to ensure that we can implement recommendations and have compliance.”