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ACHSM NSW Health Manager Leadership Award Recipients

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21 MIN READ |
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by Oscar Chaffey |
December 1, 2020 |
awards, hospitals, leadership, NSW, patient care, recognition |

The NSW Branch of the ACHSM launched the 2020 Health Manager Leadership Awards to recognise and celebrate outstanding health leaders of 2020.

We invited our colleagues to nominate individuals or teams who they felt demonstrated outstanding leadership in 2020. This was not a competition, rather an opportunity to celebrate effort, commitment and hard work.

The nominations demonstrate that great leadership in health care occurs at every level in any organisation. It is not about a title. It is about making a difference.

Below is the full list of nominees and the reasons for which they were nominated.

The NSW Branch of the ACHSM congratulates all the people listed here and sees them as a representation of leadership shown in the Health Management profession every day across NSW.

Name of individual/s or group	Organisation	Job Title	Reason for nomination
Kirstie Aggs	Health Education and Training Institute	Executive Director, Leadership Management Development & Educational Design	Kirstie Aggs is nominated for the work in the provision of leadership and management education for the NSW Health workforce. Kirstie has provided outstanding leadership throughout the challenges of the COVID19 Pandemic. This includes leading the team to develop new resources for NSW Health employees working in a virtual environment. It also includes re-development of state-wide leadership and training material to adapt to the new digital environment. Kirstie has made a significant contribution in preparing HETI staff and other lead NSW Health agencies who were moving to St Leonards with a focus on leading their teams through the transition to the new facility. There continues to be strong demand for the leadership programs of work that Kirstie and her team deliver. Kirstie has led her team to progressively re-write the Management Programs to remain contemporary. Under Kirstie's leadership, the Leadership and the Management teams have matured significantly over the past few years with a clear focus on contemporary customer needs and in the area of data collection, collation and findings to inform future work.
Eva Ballai	ADF & Hall and Prior Health and Aged Care Group	Captain (Army Reservist) and RACF Manager	Eva has been successfully managing Health care, including Residential Aged Care Facilities, in these difficult and challenging times. Eva is also an Army Reservist (rank of CAPT). Initially, she started as Nursing Officer to support the ADF's Operation Bushfire Assist by being the leading NO of RSO&I mounting members of ADF. Later on, she also went to help Army troops who were directly attending the bushfire and its victims on the ground. Eva is currently representing the ADF in Operation COVID-19 Assist. This is a joined up whole of government (WoG) approach to have an emergency response capability to support the management of outbreaks in residential aged care facilities. The WoG approach involves the ADF, Commonwealth and State Departments of Health, and Home Affairs.
Royden Bean	Australian Defence Force - Army Reserve	Australian Defence Force - Army Reserve	I’d like to nominate MAJ Royden Bean, our Officer Commanding of 1Close Health Company, for the 2020 ACHSM NSW Health Manager Leadership Awards. Apart from being an army reservist, he is also a RN Health Leader in Civilian work, working for eHealth. During Operation Bushfire Assist, MAJ Bean was the Senior Health Advisor to the Commander of Joint Task Force 1110, which was the ADFs support to the NSW Government in the response to and initial recovery from the 2019/2020 bushfires. His role was to lead the Health Cell which advised the Commander on health related issues across public and preventative health, acute clinical, veterinary and mental health issues plus primary health care support to affected civilian populations in support of NSW Health. He also maintained liaison with the NSW Health State Health Emergency Operations Centre (SHEOC), the ADFs Joint Operation Centre (JOC), the supported Local Health Districts and the National Crisis Coordination and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTRC/AUSMAT) Major Royden is highly respected by the staff and is responsible for involving our unit, 1 Close Health Company, in bushfire assistance and encouraging my participation in an ADF task force for establishing protocols for army participation in pandemics effecting the aged care industry. Thus, I highly recommend him for this ACHSM’s Health Leadership Award.
Chrissy Ceely	Sydney Children's Hospital Network	Head of Clinical Governance Unit	Chrissy continues to improve her leadership skills to be able to support & further team members. Her passion for improving the health outcomes of children is forefront in everything she does. She inspires and celebrates achievements of her team and is supportive of growing our own professional development. She models the NSW Health CORE values and reinforces staff members to put the patient at the centre of everything we do.
Janet Chapman	Albury Wodonga Health Service	Executive Director Strategic Partnerships and Planning	Janet Chapman has epitomised her job title as Executive Director Strategic Partnerships and Planning in her role at Albury Wodonga Health (AWH). Janet has unite a region of health services to respond to unprecedented disasters thus past year. Through bushfires and COVID19, Janet has asked the question: What can AWH do to help? She asks without fear of the response, and she asks regularly. Better still, she delivers and always follows up. Janet has enabled smaller services around AWH to connect with each other, benefit from economies of scale and navigate the multiple cross-border challenges the year has presented. Her professionalism in adversity is first rate! This would be due recognition from ACHSM for a humble and deserving NSW Health Leader.
Rosemary Clancy	THE SYDNEY CLINIC Bronte NSW	Allied Health Manager	Rosemary Clancy as a Senior Clinical Psychologist is the Allied Health Manager at THE SYDNEY CLINIC Bronte NSW, having been a long-standing devoted service provider within the Clinic for 12 years. Rosemary manages an equally long-standing able bodied team of 11 Allied Health Psychologists whilst also enabling the inclusion of Psychology interns whom she trains to assist with delivery of the services provided by her Department. Rosemary's philosophy, around maintaining a long standing stable Allied Health team, is team cohesion and support, great opportunities for continuing professional development (keeping skills updated), and shared values. Not to mention liking the diverse (and sometimes challenging work) within the Clinic. It is noteworthy that Rosemary provides clinical supervision to Masters of Clinical Psychology interns on placement from Macquarie Uni, Charles Sturt Uni, Western Sydney Uni, Wollongong Uni, Australian College of Applied Psychology, Australian Catholic Uni, and University of Technology, Sydney, many of whom who have gone on to make an impactful contribution within the Clinical Psychology field. In addition to Rosemary's commitment to The Sydney Clinic, externally Rosemary continuously builds on her own professional development both within her own practice, and through her contribution to the wider Australian community at large including contributing to a Federal Government Sleep Study in Canberra in 2018. Rosemary has been a Clinical Psychologist in Sydney for 20+ years treating sleep, mood, anxiety and substance use disorders. She completed a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology at Adelaide University, then worked as a Clinical Psychologist with SWSAHS before joining in 2008 The Sydney Clinic, Bronte as a Senior Clinical Psychologist. From 2014 she has been the specialist sleep psychologist at Sydney Sleep Centre, and the Director of letsleephappen.com.au
Clinical Excellence Commission	Clinical Excellence Commission		The Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) is the NSW Health peak agency for safety improvement. A small team of ~100 Health Managers have played a big leadership role during 2020 in advising and supporting public, private, primary, aged and residential care, and other government and non-government agencies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Of highest priority to the health workforce and the community is protecting their families and their own health. Patient safety begins with feeling safe. The Clinical Excellence Commission health managers have exhibited leadership in being agile and adaptive, quickly re- organizing as teams to lead and advise other health managers across all healthcare settings on infection prevention and control requirements, including training and implementation resources. The Clinical Excellence Commission also provided coaching, resources and regular newsletter to support individuals and teams in responding to the pace of change, supporting health managers across NSW to step up and lead, speak up for safety and care for self and others - these are safety fundamentals. This team of Health Managers are often in the shadows, being the shoulders to support and lift others, they are proud but not loud - so I am giving Team CEC a shout out for their leadership.
Maggie Crowley	Health Education and Training Institute	Executive Director Professional Practice & Interprofessional Collaboration	Maggie Crowley is nominated for this award for her exemplary leadership and contributions to NSW Health in education and training within the virtual medium. Maggie led her team in collaboration with the Clinical Excellence Commission, to make available the Personal Protective Equipment training for NSW Health Workforce completed by over 125,000 NSW Health employees. In addition, Maggie led her team to urgently develop the Close Contact Tracing training in collaboration with the Close Contact Tracing Team from the Ministry of Health. This training has enabled NSW Health to be recognised as a leader in this area of Contact Tracer Training. Maggie has led her team to respond to the many call for resource support in support of the Pandemic to come up with new solutions to rapid build, high quality digital product development that have resulted in efficiencies and effective delivery of educational resources. Maggie with her team in collaboration with NSW Health Workforce Branch has led the design and implementation for the curriculum for the new Bedside Assist role. Maggie has a strong focus on quality education and training that is value for money and responsive to needs. Maggie engenders an environment that is supportive of cross portfolio teamwork.
Kathy Dempsey	Clinical Excellence Commission	Senior Manager, Healthcare Acquired Infections	With the declaration of a pandemic in March 2020, under NSW legislation, the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) became the NSW lead agency for Infection Prevention and Control (IPC). As CEC's Senior Manager Healthcare Associated Infections, Kathy Dempsey demonstrated extraordinary commitment, energy and leadership in leading the IPC COVID-19 response in NSW, inspiring and motivating her CEC colleagues and beyond. Under significant pressure, Kathy influenced the system to meet clinical guidelines and exacting standards on IPC in the provision of safe patient care whilst protecting health workers. Kathy led her expanded team and the CEC response, and provided individual expertise in infection control across a wide range of state, interstate and federal committees. She is clinical lead for the NSW Health IPC Community of Practice and a member of the NSW Clinical Council. The CEC’s COVID-19 team provided consistent and timely responses to requests for advice and expertise at all levels of care across many sectors, developing and updating existing resources on Personal Protective Equipment to support and meet demand from frontline teams. Kathy’s leadership in supporting and protecting NSW Health staff and patients, the wider community, and other essential services personnel has contributed substantially to successful outcomes in the control of COVID-19 in NSW.
Jacqueline Dominish	Western Sydney Local Health District	Director Allied Health	Jacqueline has demonstrated outstanding leadership under challenging circumstances with the COVID-19 pandemic. While ensuring that the allied health response to COVID-19 met the needs of patients accessing their services and the Local Health District, Jacqueline has also been able to build and develop the District's allied health leadership team and sponsor the establishment of innovative models of care, such as RAID-ED
Executive Leadership Team	Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network		The CESPHN leadership team has modelled excellence, resilience, resourcefulness and compassion in health care. Through the challenges of the 2019 bushfires and COVID-19 pandemic, CESPHN has supported its staff, health practitioners and the central and the eastern Sydney community. The CESPHN leadership team empowered staff to think creatively in addressing health priorities to enable health practitioners to continue to provide safe access to care for their patients. Achievements include: Supporting staff. The leadership team successfully transitioned staff to a productive virtual team within days and continue to support staff safely working from home. Supporting community: Rapidly established GP-led respiratory clinics to provide rapid COVID-19 assessment. Ensured safe continuation of commissioned services (including to people at increased risk from COVID-19 such as people living with mental health conditions or experiencing homelessness). Supported NSW health in their COVID-19 information campaigns Supporting providers. Distributed personal protective equipment to primary care providers. Updated guidance daily regarding management of COVID-19 in patients and in their practices. Rapidly transitioned from face-to-face to online learning to allow health professionals to safely access information. Collaborated with clinical leaders to address issues of national interest (including telehealth, e-prescribing, and the disability and aged care Royal Commissions.)
Lachlan Gordon	South East Regional Hospital	Medical Administration Registrar	In early 2020, I encountered the bushfire emergency as a Chief Pharmacist in South East Regional Hospital (SERH). It was the record-breaking disaster in Australian bushfire history. During this period, Lachlan led by example and coordinated any urgent medical issues in SERH and the evacuation centre. His leadership has received multiple positive feedbacks from various stakeholders and a multidisciplinary team. He inspired the team through demonstrating the importance of coordinated action of planning, preparing, responding and recovering process. He demonstrated the importance of communication to ensure team members feel safe and cared during a hard time. I believe he deserves to be recognised as being an outstanding health leader.
Hall & Prior Health and Aged Care NSW - Kris Healy - RN General Manager of Hall & Prior NSW; Jennifer O'Connell - RN Director of Quality, Safety and Education; Angela Day - RN Infection Prevention and Control Nurse Consultant	Hall & Prior Health and Aged Care NSW		On behalf of Hall & Prior and Fairfield Nursing home and its staff, I am more than pleased to nominate the following team members for the 2020 ACHSM NSW Health Manager Leadership Awards: Kris Healy - RN General Manager of Hall & Prior NSW; Jennifer O'Connell - RN Director of Quality, Safety and Education; Angela Day - RN Infection Prevention and Control Nurse Consultant; As part of the senior executive team their leadership and guidance throughout the Covid-19 pandemic has been inspiring, motivating, directional but at the same time caring. Together they rendered services of an extraordinary nature to the company and for the benefit of the aged care industry and the community. COVID-19 took us all by surprise and certainly disrupted our routine, what with government directives and community demands and the absolute need for us to protect our residents and staff at all cost. Our executive team encouraged the staff to come up with innovative ideas to ensure the ongoing health, safety and wellbeing of all parties involved. Listed below are some examples of their guidance and leadership: they worked relentlessly and proactively to keep our residents and staff safe from COVID-19; At the same time preparing for accreditation and ACQ&SC visits which is always demanding and challenging, Also in the midst of all this highly charged and very demanding time, allowing me (Eva Ballai DON) to take time off from work, to work with the ADF on one of the most important projects of modern times, and that is the aged care rapid response plan on state and commonwealth level, a key government initiative for future pandemics.
Healius Medical Centres - NSW regional nurse manager team	Healius Medical Centres	NSW regional nurse manager team	The NSW regional nurse manager team consisting of Lorraine Keating, Kim Sweeney and Ashley Karajayli have been instrumental in driving significant change in the nursing services provided within our 28 primary health care centres, whilst simultaneously managing the challenges of COVID-19. The have delivered outstanding leadership to inspire our frontline nurses and medical assistants to improve our delivery of chronic disease management ensuring we reach more patients than ever before, and have ensured that our treatment room nursing services are delivered safely and efficiently for every patient. They have also been successful in engaging stakeholders such as practice managers and regional managers to promote additional new and innovative nursing services in NSW.
Jan Hume	RSL LifeCare	Facility Manager	Jan Hume has been a registered Nurse for over 40 years and for three decades of that, she’s worked in aged care. She has taught nursing at university, worked with indigenous health, and done rural remote nursing at Aangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY lands) in South Australia. Today, Jan is the Facility Manager for RSL LifeCare. The ever-humble Jan credits any success she has as a manager to the strong relationships she has built with her team. They all have a very strong mutual respect for each other, and this proved to be invaluable during the January 2020 fires from hell that decimated the Far South Coast of NSW. In the toughest of times, Jan’s team worked together incredibly well to ensure the wellbeing and safety of their residents. This year for Mother’s Day (during the COVID-19 lockdown), Jan received a thank you note in appreciation of the flowers RSL LifeCare had sent to each of its residents. The note finished by saying, Jan, we may not be able to receive visits from our family at the moment, but that’s okay, because you are just like a family member.
Michelle Lawrence	Northern Sydney Local Health District	Aboriginal Clinical Lead NSLHD Mental Health Drug and Alcohol	Since Michelle undertook her role, she has tirelessly focused to address key deficit issues in Sydney North region which is Aboriginal identification, engagement, and advocacy. Michelle's determination and passion for community saw the successful development of "Ask the question" campaign, NAIDOC events, strengthening network/service partnerships and consistent and supportive community engagement. Improvement of Mental Health processes and Pathways within NSLHD. Michelle has achieved much in a short period of time, and is a driving force behind much of the positive change in this space
Michelle Lawrence	Northern Sydney Local Health District	Aboriginal Clinical Lead NSLHD Mental Health Drug and Alcohol	Michelle has put Aboriginal health on the map at NSLHD, reduced Unknowns to 0.2 created the first animation about asking the question has created beautiful environments training and education where Aboriginal health is everyone's business.
Michelle Lawrence	Northern Sydney Local Health District	Aboriginal Clinical Lead NSLHD Mental Health Drug and Alcohol	Michelle has put Aboriginal health on the map in NSLHD, she has consulted with the community an informed programs and projects including the ask the question animation, The first animation of its kind to discuss the reasons for self identifying and why we ask the question. The animation has been picked up by multiple health districts. The results along with data management has seen a reduction to 0.2% of the unknowns across our district. All staff are trained past the respecting the difference, and Aboriginal health is now embedded into orientation and health professional days. She has set up registration training with Bungee Bidgel where they are trained to worked with aboriginal people by having face to face and working with elders on best practice. The aboriginal health committee has been established and there are more cultural environments being built everywhere. Michelle is one person who has managed to changed the projection of the service to improve the reduction of unknowns through cultural competency and over 7,500 hits on facebook and youtube with the animation.
Michelle Lawrence	Northern Sydney Local Health District	Aboriginal Clinical Lead NSLHD Mental Health Drug and Alcohol	Michelle has led a vast array of projects within our service focusing on acknowledging and respecting the influence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture on consumers or this origin within our service. Consumers are now more effectively identified, culture incorporated into care and treatment, and staff have been empowered to make significant changes to support this goal.
Rhonda Loftus	Health Education and Training Institute	Executive Director Mental Health & Higher Education	Rhonda Loftus is nominated for the work she leads in the Mental Health Portfolio at the Health Education and Training Institute; NSW Health. This includes the lead role of managing and coordination of the HETI Higher Education Provider of Psychiatry Post Graduate courses and Applied Mental Health courses. Rhonda is a strong advocate for ensuring education and training for health professionals is contemporary and informed by those with a lived experience of mental health illness. Rhonda led her team to develop micro educational courses in response to market determined needs. Rhonda and her team have developed and delivered important mental health training and resources to NSW Health staff and beyond.
Sonia Marshall	Southwest Sydney Local Health District	Executive Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Performance - Incident Controller EOC SWSLHD	Sonia Marshall is an inspirational leader to work with and continues to make a difference during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sonia’s capacity to take on new information and work through tough issues is exceptional, with her capacity and ability to lead the team and provide feedback to keep the ship sailing could only be described as extraordinary. Sonia motivates action in all of her teams, and we often find ourselves asking “what else can we do to help achieve the vision”? Through Sonia’s clear decisive, inclusive and supportive leadership style the teams keep finding ways to succeed in these uncharted waters. Sonia’s team members can rely on Sonia for guidance, wisdom , feedback and encouragement both before and during these current unpredictable times. It has never been about her and what she can achieve, it is always about what the team can do together to meet the needs of the community across South Western Sydney. Her magnetic and unwavering energy in meeting challenges head on brings out the very best in people. Sonia is an extraordinary and highly resilient leader who deserves to be recognised and celebrated for her unselfish and tenacious commitment to providing safe, compassionate healthcare, always.
Todd McEwan	St Vincent's Health Network Sydney (St Vincent's Hospitals Sydney Limited)	Director of Acute Services	From the Pandemic’s outset in Australia, St Vincent’s played a pivotal role, radically scaling-up our treatment capacity, leading some of the world’s most important research into the long-term impacts of COVID, and establishing Australia’s first community mass-scale pop-up clinics. St Vincent’s implemented its Campus Pandemic Response Plan shortly before the WHO officially announced a state of global pandemic. Overseeing the plan’s roll out was the hospital’s Emergency Operations Centre which began operating 24/7 led by Todd McEwan, Director of Acute Services. From the outset, Todd worked in unison with St Vincent’s Private to call on our collective resources, including staff, equipment and physical space. He oversaw the reconfiguration of our ED to accommodate red and green zones, and created satellite ICU spaces to increase capacity as well as the number of available ventilators. In our efforts to contain the virus spread, Todd oversaw the Campus physical consultations transition to telehealth, expanding to more than 150 different services including a Virtual Care Clinic to manage COVID-positive patients, with mild symptoms, in their homes. The role St Vincent’s has played throughout the State involved many of our staff stepping up none more so than Todd McEwan who continues to lead by example.
MH-DA Asking the project team	Northern Sydney Local Health District - Macquarie Hospital		The eLearning module ‘Asking the Question’ is a mandatory component in education and has been developed for all NSW Health staff to improve the identification of Aboriginal People. The module aims at providing understanding and importance of the identification in the Health service. It provides professionals with greater understanding when with clients and how to deal with different responses and scenarios. Targeting Administration front line staff at their Administration Professional Day has been an initiative lead by Michelle Lawrence the Aboriginal Clinical lead and the team in providing face to face training for quality service.
Andrew Newton	Northern Beaches Hospital	Chief Executive Officer	Late 2019, Andrew Newton was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer of the newly developed, albeit controversial, Northern Beaches Hospital amid a period of change of ownership of the operating company, extremely negative publicity, and high levels of Doctor, Staff, Patient, and local community dissatisfaction. While the Hospital opened on schedule, the initial operational phase was a debacle and poorly received. In a little over twelve months, through inspired, selfless leadership, hard work and application, often at his own significant, personal sacrifice, and with the concerted support of his Corporate Head Office, Andrew has managed to turn around Doctors acceptance, Patient satisfaction, and community support as well as substantially improve contractual, statutory and political relationships under the most difficult of circumstances. Andrew has also skillfully positioned the Hospital as the primary reference point for COVID-19 testing and treatment for the vast, highly diverse population of Sydney's northern beaches. He has deliberately and meticulously assembled, developed, and encouraged a highly competent and dedicated Executive team and middle management structure, as well as created a culture of pride, safety and clinical excellence throughout the organisation. I think Andrew Newton is a Champion and an outstanding Health Leader of our College.
Dr Naru Pal & Liverpool Public Health Unit	South Western Sydney Local Health District	Director	Within NSW, SWSLHD Public health unit successfully managed and mitigated the COVID 19 response in both waves (591 cases). In the second wave (since July 1), it has taken the burden of almost 50 percent of state wide COVID 19 infections. Only 1 death was recorded in the second wave and as of now 291/315 patients at SWSLHD have fully recovered. These outbreaks included CALD communities, high risk settings like hospitals, schools, aged care, child care centres and disability services. The contact tracing and case management under the leadership of Dr Pal has been a success which deserves appreciation and support.
Claire Phelan	SESLHD Oral Health Service	Director Oral Health Service SESLHD	With nearly 4 decades of experience in health: Claire inspires young health managers every day. She believes in empowering her staff and constantly reinforces the need to be collaborative. She inspires her team everyday with her passion for patient care while adopting a very relatable coaching style of leadership. This makes her not only approachable but is testament to her constant endeavour to impart the knowledge of her experiences. Claire is a quick thinker and is never afraid to voice her concerns when it is most crucial to do so. She has shown immense courage and agility during the COVID-19 global pandemic. She stayed one step ahead, vigilant of the risks and held the safety of the workforce and consumers as top priority. She personally spoke with anxious staff members, gave clear and concise instructions and at all stages made it a consultative process. Her confidence and calmness in tackling challenging situations was not only reassuring but proved to be a successful strategy in keeping jobs, engaging and motivating staff through the toughest of times. Claire is brilliant, funny, innovative and a strong health leader who has worked decades without looking for credit or being in the spotlight!
Colleen Ryan	Mid North Coast Local Health district	Manager of Community and Allied Health	Colleen embodies all the attributes of an excellent and confident leader. She is a visionary with outstanding strategic planning, who can accurately anticipate the future health needs of our area. She is a strong communicator with a positive attitude and a great sense of humour. She is passionate about supporting and developing her team to reach their career goals, and actively encourages her staff to push themselves outside their comfort zone. I'm lucky to work alongside such a supportive role model and leader.
Jullie Sillince	Mid North Coast Local Health District	Coffs Clinical Network Medical Administration Manager- Workforce and Recruitment	2020 has been Julie's year to shine. Shine she has, having an immense impact as a Manager for this hospital and her staff whilst supporting her extended family in very difficult times. Coffs Clinical Network have not had a permanent Network Director Clinical Services for several years, however COVID-19 has brought a huge number of challenges, including closed borders. Julie has kept the Network together maintaining our medical services to a high standard with a hospital in current redevelopment to twice its size. With Locum DCS after Locum DCS arriving, Julie has risen to all the challenges involved, ensuring that: Each DCS was settled, updated, and supported; Supported, and empathised with her team and CCN Medical Officers, being with them all the way; Maintained recruitment, education and training ensuring continuity; Met deadlines and KPI's for accreditations; Ensured complaints remained on track and concerns resolved; A million other tasks, leading her team to smash it out of the park; Truly supported each Locum DCS, General Manager and CHHC Executive member. A massive year for a talented Manager one that I know has got my back, we don’t have rank or titles, we are a team and we work as a team.
Glenn Sisson	Australian Defence Force - Army Reserve and NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation	Officer Commanding, Health Company of 5 Combat Services Support Battalion (5CSSB) and Manager (RN) of the NSW Institute of Trauma and Injury Management	I am more than pleased to nominate Glenn Sisson for the 2020 ACHSM NSW Health Manager Leadership Awards. He is the Commanding officer of 5CSSB (rank of MAJ) and in civilian work he works as Manager (RN) of the NSW Institute of Trauma and Injury Management (ITIM), a clinical network within the Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI). As our Commanding Officer his leadership and guidance throughout the bushfires and the Covid-19 pandemic has been inspiring, motivating and directional. As a leader of army reservists he has rendered services of an extraordinary nature to the army and for the benefit of the community. During bushfire assist he went above and beyond to visit his combat medics, combat paramedics, Nursing Officers and Medical Officers in the field of battle against bushfires in NSW In civilian work he is a very inspirational and innovative manager. Currently, he is working on innovation projects and research: NSW Trauma Services Mode of Care - implementation phase, Redesign of the NSW Trauma Registry to integrate with the eMR - design phase, Trauma patient reported outcomes and experience measures post discharge - pilot phase, Standardised trauma death review process - pilot phase, Redevelopment of the Australian Trauma Team Training Course - Implementation phase, eLearning module development - design and testing phase, Development of a geolocation decision support tool (resources on a map) for trauma, retrieval and critical care - implementation phase, Version 6 of the NSW Trauma App - planning phase, Many other projects and programs as part of our business as usual.
Jenny Smit	Tresillian	Executive Director Clinical Services	Jenny Smit is that rare leader who combines clarity of vision, dedication and strength of purpose with empathy and compassion. In her role as Executive Director Clinical Services for Tresillian, Jenny has at all times led by example - with integrity, honesty and open communication, keeping children and their families at the centre of all we do. Jenny has enabled the staff she leads to build on their strengths - an example being her commitment to providing mentoring and leadership capacity building for nursing unit managers, many of whom work remotely across Tresillianâ€™s NSW-wide network of services. Jenny has advocated for access to programs and a range of initiatives to support the emotional wellbeing of the interprofessional groups of clinicians throughout the organisation. 2020 has been an extraordinary year, and a stressful year for so many. Jenny has provided a safe haven as we have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic and the many adaptations to practice and service provision this required, including taking on the 7-day per week role of communication regarding hotspots for the updating of COVID-19 screening at state-wide Tresillian services. I thank Jenny for her example, support and vision and highly recommend Jenny for this award.
Colleen Ryan	Mid North Coast Local Health District	Manager of Community and Allied Health Services	Colleen manages a significant portfolio across a large geographical area and diverse clinical services including community nursing and allied health. In 2020, Colleen has been a shining light to her staff demonstrating resilience, imagination, leadership and compassion. Colleen embraces change, puts her hand up to chair new meetings, is the voice and face representing our services, demonstrates compassion and understanding for staff. she started covid clinics at multiple locations, advocated for training and resources, applied common sense and is skillful at incorporating a 360 degree view before settling on solutions. Colleen acknowledges her staff and works tirelessly to support her staff and services. Colleen is running a Mental Health First Aid course as she recognizes the benefits of her staff having these skills and recognizes the tough year it has been. Colleen is good for a chat, always listening and is very supportive. Colleen leads and embraces redesign and reprioritization of services. Colleen without hesitation put her hand up to chair two new redesign steering committees and never misses a meeting. For International Allied Health day last week Colleen organized coffee for all staff and lunch for her direct reports. Colleen has modelled clear and consistent outstanding leadership in 2020 and is a very worthy recipient of this acknowledgement. Thank you, Anthony (Physiotherapy Manager)
Terri Sheehan	Justice Health & Forensic Mental Health Network	Deputy Director of Nursing and Midwifery Services	Terri Sheehan is an outstanding health leader. Over the past 12 months she has lead her during the 2019/2020 bushfires that impacted numerous Correctional Centres throughout NSW. From fires we went to floods and then within weeks COVID. Throughout all events but especially the COVID pandemic Terri has led the way in the Network and played an integral part of the Networks response to keep the Correctional centres COVID free and patients and staff safe Terri has 'presence' and is a natural leader. She is authentic with an incredible can do attitude and her staff are loyal to her. I have known Terri for close to 26 years, when I first started with the Network as a Registered Nurse and have always looked up to her as the manager I inspire to be.
Natalie Shiel	Sydney Local Health District	Sydney LHD Flying Squad Coordinator	This innovative rapid response team was established by a small team of Health Managers to provide support for the NSW Public Health response to COVID-19. Comprising of staff from a variety of settings including Dental, Medical, Community, Nursing and Public Health these Rapid Response Teams known as SLHD Flying Squad, have been able to provide screening and surveillance to members of the community in their homes or at standalone emergency clinics. The team comprises of Nursing, Physios, Dieticians, Dentists, Health Administrators and Clerical Staff, working 7 days a week and on call across the whole of Sydney LHD and at Sydney Airports. Initially established to provide support to the Cruise Ship Screening, this innovative team is now able to establish emergency COVID-19 Clinics within 4 work hours using a rapid response team model. Natalie has provided senior leadership and guidance to the team of managers working in the various teams that comprise the SLHD Flying Squads, ensuring that they maintain high levels of safety though compliance with PPE and practice, are well rested and well informed. She has set a high standard and is a role model for other managers within the area.
Anne Smith	Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District	Physiotherapy Head of Discipline & Associate Director of Allied Health	Anne is the Physiotherapy Head of Discipline, Associate Director of Allied Health for Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District and the Chair of the NSW health Physiotherapy Advisory Network. Anne has demonstrated outstanding leadership as Chair of the NSW health Physiotherapy Advisory Network. Anne has been very responsive to the changing health environment due to the pandemic and the emerging role of physiotherapists in treating people with COVID-19. Under Anne's leadership, the Physiotherapy advisory network has supported the roll-out of physiotherapy training in ICU and cardio-respiratory care. Anne is also an excellent coordinator between the Ministry of Health and the network.
Zamir Yusuf	Commonwealth Department of Health	Director, Aged Care Regulation and Risk in the Commonwealth Department of Health	Zamir Yusuf is the Director, Aged Care Regulation and Risk in the Commonwealth Department of Health. His regular work has been in the space of managing the regulation and risk framework within the Aged Care Act 1997 under which aged care providers are required to provide aged care services. With the outbreak of COVID-19, he has managed the Commonwealth Department of Health’s response to supporting aged care providers with outbreaks. While difficult times for all sectors, the aged care sector has performed relatively well due to the collaborative work of all. (Ref: Royal Commission special report on COVID: Overall Australian mortality rate from COVID-19 was 2.6%. This case fatality rate, as it is known, is low by international standards. For example, the equivalent rate in France is 13.6%; in the United Kingdom it is 12.8%). Zamir is now working with a number of other federal and state agencies (including the ADF) to implement National Cabinet decision to have an emergency response capability to support the management of at scale outbreaks of COVID-19. This work will be of paramount importance to all and specifically for the wellbeing of our vulnerable older population.