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Dear Sir/Madam, Mr Warren Westcott completed his term as the NSW ACHSE State Director in February 2006. Dr. Sarah Mott stepped into the role as the new NSW ACHSE State Director shortly after. The Newsletter Committee had an opportunity to interview both Mr. Warren Westcott and Dr. Sarah Mott, and gain an insight into their careers and learnings so far.
Mr Warren Westcott
- Favourite Book - any book on food or wine
- Favourite Movie – ‘The Piano’
- Favourite Song - Side B of Abbey Road, Beatles Album (best music ever written!)
During your 5-year term as the ACHSE State Director NSW Branch, what were the main changes that occurred in the College?
As a result of the National Review of the College and the work done on the lead up to it, there is a greater willingness to consider a corporate approach to the way the College does business. This means more cooperation between the Branches and the National Office to achieve a common end. This will enable the College to progress and use its resources in the most effective manner. In regard to the MTP, the most significant change in its 30-year history was to provide the Master of Health Service Management as a component of the Program, making it one of the best Programs of its type anywhere.
From your perspective, what are the major changes that have happened in the healthcare system over the last 5 years?
The increase in the profile of clinical governance has been the major change. We have seen a greater emphasis and allocation of resources to try and improve the quality of health services across Australia. The creation of the CEC in NSW and the Quality and Safety Commission at National level are examples of the emphasis in this area. The jury is still out as to any significant changes to the quality of care but the lead is being taken.
The greatest area of lack of change is in Indigenous health - the worst record in the developed world, which isn't a great claim to fame.
Can you please share the highlights and lowlights of your career?
I have always enjoyed working in Hospitals so my time in the establishment of Westmead Hospital and my period as General Manager at Nepean Hospital were the best years of my career. Working with such great leaders as Bernie Amos at Westmead and Tom Hamilton at Wentworth Area Health Service was a privilege. The lowlights were not coping with organisational change in the best way when it happened in Wentworth Area Health Service. Lessons were learnt but at a cost.
What are your future plans?
Continue to work with the College to expand membership and services and keep my options open to whatever else comes along. From your experience, what advice will you offer to the MTP trainees and current managers?
Take every opportunity to learn and get experience- get involved with the College and network and your careers will flourish. To Managers- there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to organisational structures- in your career you will see many types of organisational structures- learn to get the most out of each change- or make the change yourself if you aren't happy!
Dr Sarah Mott
- Favourite Book - 'Slaughterhouse Five' by Kurt Vonnegut
- Favourite Movie - 'The Birdcage'
- Favourite Song - 'Wish you were here' by Pink Floyd
What led you to assume the position as the ACHSE State Director NSW Branch?
Luck, really! I was looking for a new challenge and this opportunity presented itself. I really enjoyed my time as Director, Learning and Development in Northern Sydney Health and I believe that my expertise will transfer readily to ACHSE. From decades in health services, I have strong views on health services management at all levels and see that ACHSE has a clear role as leader in its support and development.
What direction will you like to take the College?
Too soon to tell, however areas of interest for me are Web-based learning, emerging managers, rural and remote health. As an international organisation, I am looking forward to collaborating with all the branches and National office to ensure that the services offered by the College are value for money to the membership. Ask me again about directions in six months!
From your perspective, what are the major changes that have happened in the healthcare system over the last 5 years?
- Plenty of resource-free initiatives (do more with the same or less) which have impacted on managers more so than other areas of health services.
- Excessive change leading to transition weary managers and staff.
- Amalgamations of health services leading to geographically enormous areas to manage.
- Declining pool of health professionals and those remaining are getting older
From your experience, what advice will you offer to the MTP trainees and current managers?
For MTP trainees, ‘Use the program to determine where you will go (or not go) in your careers. There is a well of expertise in the workforce, be persistent, once you find it, tap into it and soak it up!’ For managers ‘There is definite strength in numbers, what appears impossible to an individual may be achievable in a group. Areas to consider include mentorship, action learning sets, web-based discussion groups – anything that enables collaboration. Collaboration is not a sign of weakness but an indication of a thinking manager!’
The ACHSE Newsletter Committee would like to thank Mr. Warren Westcott and Dr. Sarah Mott for taking the time out for this interview and wish them all the best in their future endeavours.
Shelly Dhaliwal and Peter Braithwaite
Looking Forward, Looking Back – Evaluating Reforms and Predicting Trends
The Federal Minister for Health and Ageing at the State Conference. |
The 2007 ACHSE NSW State Branch Conference ‘Looking Forward, Looking Back – Evaluating Reforms and Predicting Trends’ was held on the 4th May at the Swissotel Hotel in Sydney. This conference brought together health professionals from across the NSW health system. The conference was opened by the Federal Minister for Health and
Ageing, the Hon Tony Abbott MP, who also set the scene for questions and allowed for some of the views of the Federal Government to be shown regarding mangers in the health system.
The presenters and delegates were from numerous fields
within health and from locations all around the state; this gelled well with the variety of speakers and made for a truly interesting day. The problem with all of this choice was the fact that it was almost impossible to decide what to actually attend!
The day was divided into concurrent sessions, which were based around the theme of the conference. This allowed for a wide scope of speakers to detail the previous health reforms and possible future trends of health. Furthermore, having several concurrent sessions allowed for attendees to focus on their own interests and specialities by breaking into smaller groups. These smaller groups created an atmosphere of interaction during the question times, which generated some good debate. If there was a negative with the question time, it was that it just wasn’t long enough!
Trainees Anthony Marsh, Diana Traves, Kristy Harper, Carol Muthunesan & Cindy Larkins at the State Conference |
The opening session of the morning, facilitated by Prof Jeffrey Braithwaite really set the tempo for the rest of the conference. The interactive voting was popular, so popular in fact that some of the voting gadgets ‘disappeared’ after the event. The voting got people in the mood to actually want to contribute to discussions and not just sit back and let others lead the debate.
Keynote speakers such as Professor Chris Ham and Davis Balestracci presented fascinating and informative sessions about where healthcare is headed in the future. Professor Chris Ham presented two sessions, the first being, “Healthcare Reform And Implications for the Future”, which reviewed the past and current trends in health care reform around the world, exploring implications for the future.
This session covered developments in health care financing, reforms to the delivery system and the changing role of planning and markets. Professor Ham’s second session was “The Role of Clinical Leadership in Improving the Performance of Health Services”, which looked at the importance of engaging clinicians in the reform process to achieve change and innovation from within health care organisations.
MTP Graduates Vanessa Evans, Ana do Vale and Lisa Cox at the State Conference |
The other keynote speaker, Davis Balestracci, presented an energetic and enlightening session: “The Need for Data ‘Sanity’”, which examined how to transform conversations about data into being more insightful and productive.
All in all the day really demonstrated the difference in beliefs, opinions and experiences both good and bad that exist in the health system, especially when something like health reform is mentioned.
Aidan Murphy and Peter Braithwaite
Introducing the mandatory component of Masters Degree in the ACHSE Management Training Program has made it even more competitive and sought after. This has, however, put extra demands on the time of management trainees, who are now required to allocate a considerable amount of time each week for studying, on top of their 35-40 hour working week. The following article discusses some strategies on how to best balance work and studies with life in general.
The first critical component of ensuring this balance is to work effectively with time. And what better way to start than to let go of procrastination – a crime we all have been guilty of at some stage. ‘I’ll do this in an hour, in a day, in a week…I’ll do this anytime but now!’ Sounds familiar? If we don’t do things when they are meant to be done, they just keep piling up. And then, one of the three things happen:
- A - We cannot complete these tasks, and this affects our credibility.
- B - We complete these tasks half-heartedly, and our efforts don’t reflect our capability.
- C - We complete these tasks to the best of our ability, burning the midnight and early morning oil, but have a panic attack in the process.
Are you an A, B or C? And what are you going to do about it?
More importantly, why do we procrastinate? Understanding the ‘why’ behind our procrastination could very well answer the ‘how to beat,’ or if we can’t beat it, then ‘how to manage’ it. Do we procrastinate because the things we need to get done bore us to death? If so, then we need to ask ourselves - can we make our mundane tasks more enjoyable and challenging? Are we procrastinating because we are scared of failure – that we won’t do as well as we need to, therefore, why bother? Perfectionism – a tendency of being your own worst critic – can send us in a spiral of intense fear and anxiety, hence resulting in avoidance. And where does this leave us? It leaves us wanting to do things tomorrow, or the day after, or any other day but today! Indeed, no easy answers here, just something to reflect
on.
So how do we manage procrastination, and in turn, our time?
There is a need to ensure that the time we allocate to each task is reflective of the importance of that task. For example, we cannot spend an entire afternoon drafting a perfect e-mail to someone in another office/branch somewhere, when we have three Ministerials, one service plan and a university assignment due in 2 days! Being realistic and practical with our time allocation will assist us in managing competing deadlines and overcome some of those procrastinating traits. This will further ensure that even if we don’t stay on top of everything, at least we won’t drown in piles and piles of double-sided, A4 paper.
The second critical component of ensuring this balance is to ask for help when uncertain of what to do next. It’s amazing, almost insane, how much time we spend (waste) pondering over the details, trying to figure out everything on our own, when asking for help from our supervisors, work colleagues and university lectures can save us all that time and help get the work done much quicker! Asking for help, indeed, is a sign of strength, and not weakness. Also, it’s definitely a much easier and more practical way of getting things done.
Lastly, and most importantly, it is critical to allow at least one day a week where we have no work or studies. A day of total relaxation (if there is such a thing), where we get to sleep in, go for a walk, catch up with friends and recharge ourselves before another hectic week hits us hard!
Shelly Dhaliwal
We are now in the second year where a mandatory part of the MTP is completing a Masters of Health Services Management through CSU. In line with the theme of this edition “work life balance”, Meg Yen, CSU Lecturer, has kindly provided her thoughts and advice for trainees to successfully navigate their way through the program.
The second year of the MTP is well under way and it’s been a pleasure to meet and work with such an enthusiastic group of students. The contact on study days has provided us with valuable opportunities for interaction and discussion on current issues in health services management within individual subject areas. This contact has also enabled us to get a feel for the engagement of both groups with the whole package of learning, including CSU subjects, placements, and individual thoughts and
experiences.
Balancing work commitments with study requirements is a challenge faced by MTP trainees. Trainees are often either new to full time work having only recently graduated from their bachelor’s degree, and/or are entering into unfamiliar work territory, which adds an additional complexity. Meg provides students with some timely advice to effectively meet this challenge:
One of the issues that we have become aware of concerns the challenge arising from working full time and studying part time. Effective planning, including time management, plays a significant role in addressing this challenge. Time management engages you in meaningful self-evaluation as you examine and make a judgement about how you achieve your goals. One way that you can aid this process is by retrospective timetabling- fill out a timetable for last week and reflect on your strengths - What did you do that enabled you to achieve your goals? These results have implications for ongoing study planning- and needless to say- management practice.
Distance education has its difficulties, however, students are not expected to “go it alone”. The CSU lecturers are available to facilitate the learning process and should be utilised as a means of support throughout the study periods. MTP students have the unique opportunity to meet with the lecturers one day a month to discuss the subject material and assist students with their studies. Providing feedback on this interaction and the course material is an important tool for the evaluation and improvement of this course and the interaction between student and lecturer. The provision of feedback is encouraged by CSU as Meg explains:
We are also aware of our role in the achievement of your study goals, and in recognition of this, encourage everyone to take the opportunity to complete the subject evaluations that will be emailed to you in June. Your comments are valuable to us and will contribute towards the quality of our involvement with students undertaking the MTP in the future.
The challenges faced by MTP participants in balancing post-graduate studies and a full time job is both recognised and understood by the CSU lecturers. Meg’s advice for effectively managing a demanding schedule is welcomed and appreciated. Although difficult, it is not impossible to meet this challenge and it is important to remember that student and lecturer are engaged in a relationship to meet this challenge together.
Hamish Carver
Management Training Program - 1st Year
Trainees 2007
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The first year trainees commenced the week long Orientation Program on 5 February 2007. Fifteen trainees started the Program, a record number for a first year group.
They enjoyed a full week of lectures and site visits including a session with the then Director General, NSW Health, Robyn
Kruk.
PICTURED TOP RIGHT: Trainees at Orientation
PICTURED BOTTOM RIGHT:
Trainees at orientation with Robyn Kruk
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Management Training Program Review
The College supported the need for a Review of the Program, as this is the first time a Review of this type has been undertaken by NSW Health.
The College supports the overall direction proposed in the Report and is pleased that Alan McCarroll has produced a balanced and factual Report. The College has made comments on some specific recommendations. Otherwise the recommendations are supported.
The main comment that the College put forward was the need for the MTP trainees to obtain a variety of experience, rural and metropolitan, operational and if possible policy development in the Health Department or other specialist placements. Trainees can be recruited by specific Area Health Services but they shouldn't necessarily stay within one Area Health Services for two years.
Other professional staff in the Health system are provided with the opportunity to experience rural/metropolitan and a variety of health settings. Health Managers should be no different.
The following trainees graduated from the program at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the NSW Branch of the ACHSE held on 7 June at Hunt & Hunt:
2006 ACHSE NSW Graduates:
L to R Back Row: Stuart Schneider (President), Paul Watson, Emma Kornacki, Danny Brayan, Reuben Anthony, Belinda Sismey, Rebecca Gardner and Connie Porter.
L to R Front Row: Monika George and Alison Cochrane.
Absent from photo: Natasha Lo, Edwina Snowdon and Michelle Wypych |
State President Stuart Schneider, presenting Annie Liu with her award |
- Reuben Anthony
- Danny Brayan
- Alison Cochrane
- Rebecca Gardner
- Monika George
- Emma Kornacki
- Natasha Lo
- Connie Porter
- Belinda Sismey
- Edwina Snowdon
- Paul Watson
- Michelle Wypych
Awards for the MTP
State President Stuart Schneider presented the following awards at the AGM:
Stan Williams Young Leaders Awards
Best First Year Trainee
Awarded to Annie Liu – for her outstanding results in the Master of Health Service Management and her contribution to the Trainees’ Newsletter and Study Days and for her excellent Performance Appraisals
Best Second Year Trainee
Awarded to – Natasha Lo – for her very strong results in the Master of Health Service Management, her leadership in the Rural Study Tour which she coordinated and for her contribution to Study Days and for her Performance Appraisals
Best Placement Organisation
Awarded to Clinical Policy Unit at NSW Health Department
AHMTP Message Stick
The Newsletter Committee had an opportunity to interview Ms Julie Smith who is the Manager of the Aboriginal Employment Strategy and Equity with Hunter New England Health (HNE Health). Julie oversees the employment, retention and development of Aboriginal employees, employees with a disability, staff from non-English speaking background, women and older employees.
Julie’s role is to develop an Aboriginal Employment Strategy and she is working towards the requirement set by the NSW Premier’s Department to increase Aboriginal Employment across the area of HNE Health and in varying positions. The NSW Premier’s Department benchmark for Aboriginal Employment is 2.2%. The HNE Health Aboriginal workforce is currently at 1.59% with a set benchmark of 3.3%. This is equivalent to 250 extra Aboriginal employees. Employment plays an integral role in addressing socio-economic issues, which underpin good health. The HNE Health Aboriginal Employment Strategy will incorporate the recommendations from a number of National, State and Area strategies, reports and policies which address Aboriginal workforce issues.
With regard to this, Julie’s role is Area-wide and also involves the development of culturally appropriate recruitment material and the development of targeted positions for Indigenous staff, which will cite Aboriginality as part of the selection criteria. Other initiatives planned for the year include consideration of a major partnership between HNE Health and an inaugural Indigenous jobs market, to be held in Newcastle in September 2007.
As can be seen, Julie has a hectic work schedule. Keeping in line with
‘balancing work and studies with life’ theme of the newsletter, the Newsletter Committee asked Julie about the advice she would give to the management trainees who are currently working fulltime and studying part-time. Julie’s response was,
‘take 15-minute break every hour per eight-hour study to recharge yourself. Also, have a high supply of your favourite snacks handy when studying. When studying or recharging yourself, find an environment that is relaxing and inspiring, such as a beach, park, in the sun, particularly in winter to increase the Vitamin D so you feel good.’
On a personal note, Julie is from the Wiradjuri tribe, Erambie Mission in Cowra and her favourite foods are: hot chips, pizza & sweets, she has a pet cat; Sally (but calls her Mustang) and her hobbies are surfing & relaxing.
Cindy Larkins
Health Start News
Comings and Goings
- Kathy Hambrook (99-00)
Executive Recruitment, Brisbane
- Ana Do Vale (00-01)
Senior Consultant - Health Advisory Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers
- Jacob Barling (03-04)
Project Manager - NSW Health Support
- Jackie Stephenson (03-04)
Project Manager, National Prescribing Service
- Helen Smith (04-05)
Returned from Birmingham and working in Human Resources Recruitment
- Nik Todorovski (04-05) was married in April 2007 – Congratulations!
- Amelia Buchanan (04-05)
Executive Assistant to Principal, St Ignatius College, Riverview
- Natasha Lo (05-06)
Youth Ambassador Program, Volunteer in Laos for 12 months
- Edwina Snowdon (05-06)
University Teaching Hospital Birmingham (UK placement)
Vale Geoff Hampton
We are sorry to hear of the sudden death of Geoff Hampton from cancer. Geoff was a strong advocate for the MTP and he supervised a number of trainees who went through the Coffs Harbour placement.
Health Start Crossword
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DOWN
- Name of the Public Health Service in the United Kingdom (Abbrev.)
- A transaction that decreases profit
- The outgoing NSW State Director Warren (….)
- Some say he is 'the father' of bureaucracy
- Accounting method where income and expenses are accounted for but not received/paid
ACROSS
- What year did the College change it's name to ACHSE
19.
- What year did the Management Training Program begin 19...
- Commonly used to measure performance of an organisation
- What State does the NSW ACHSE MTP extend to
- What city in the UK can trainees go to as a placement
- This accounting term (Acronym) tracks asset maintenance etc.
- The NSW AHMTP coordinator, Zane (….)
- The first NSW ACHSE State Director Stan (………)
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Newsletter Committee
Shelly Dhaliwal (Editor)
Aidan Murphy
Peter Braithwaite
Cindy Larkins
Hamish Carver
Keep us posted
Do you have any comments or articles you would like to submit to Health Start? If so, please contact us at the ACHSE (NSW Branch):
PO Box 341
North Ryde NSW 1670
Ph: (02) 9878 2200
Fax: (02) 9889 3099
Email: smott@achsensw.org.au
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