The board of Bairnsdale Regional Health Service said goodbye to two valued members recently with Angela Hutson and Doug Vickers retiring from their roles.

Doug had been on the board for eight years while Angela was a member for nearly 18 years, excelling in the role of chair for the past six, and both have seen great positive change in their time on the board.

“I sat down and thought the other day, 27 per cent of my time on this planet I’ve been on the hospital board. It’s a huge chunk and is pretty amazing,” Angela said, wondering where that time had gone.

“It’s not just a matter of time flies when you’re having fun. Time flies when you’re passionate, committed, keen; if you’re bored, that’s when time drags. I was the opposite of bored.

“During my 17-odd years there have been more than 40 colleagues that I’ve sat with around the table, all volunteers, including five chief executive officers and five, maybe six, board chairs, prior to myself.”

Now, as of July 1, board members are paid for their services on the board, but even if she had been paid during her time on the board, Angela said she was certainly not in it for the money.

“I went in with my eyes completely open and I was very keen to contribute to what is critical public infrastructure in East Gippsland that services 40-odd-thousand people,” Angela said.

“There have been some really challenging times. There have been funding issues at times, we had to close beds at one stage because of funding; the issue of attracting, recruiting and retaining staff, particularly clinicians; meeting and managing community expectations.

“The community has a very high expectation for what they want from their hospital. And they are remarkably appreciative of what we do, but there are still the questions of ‘Why can’t you provide this service?’ ‘Why can’t you provide that service?’ So managing those community expectations is something that has been difficult for the board at times.”

IT’S A PEOPLE BUSINESS

Angela says while the hospital is in the business of health, “essentially we are in the business of people”.

“It’s a people business. We deliver health services to people, that’s what we do. We’re never dealing with just one person, it’s always a person and their family and whoever else is surrounding them,” she said.

“It is critical, and it has been difficult at times over the years, to make sure we’ve got the right culture in the hospital, we’ve got good leadership. Good leadership does start with the board, making sure we’ve got the right CEO, who then picks the executive team, and we must have measures in place so we know we’ve got healthy, highly performing, safe and rewarded staff.

“It doesn’t matter what business you’re in, if you’ve got healthy - in all senses of the word meaning mentally, physically and emotionally - highly performing, rewarded and respected staff, then that flows on to the service they’re providing the community.

“Yes, we’ve had challenging times, we haven’t always had the right people in the right jobs across the organisation, but overall, the quality of service we provide has been something I am very proud of.

“I could count on maybe one hand the number of times, across 17 years, when I’ve got the phone call to say ‘Angela, you need to know this has happened’. But overall, with the 30-40,000 patients going through the hospital every year, to have only those calls to fill one hand, even if it was two hands, it’s still pretty good. But it’s those on the one hand that are the ones that you think, oh my goodness, the responsibility and the accountability of the board and the executives is huge.

“But I have been very confident that the quality of our service, and meeting the individual needs of families and patients, we’ve been terrific at that, overall.”

With board members appointed by the State Government, Angela’s time on the BRHS board has come to an end with the new government policy of three terms or 10 years being the maximum amount of time able to be spent on a hospital board.

“Essentially I was finished up at the end of June last year, but because our former CEO, Therese Tierney, was leaving and we didn’t have our full succession plan in place for my replacement, I got one more year, with the help of Tim Bull and his lobbying to the department.

“So I got one more year to oversee the recruitment of our current CEO, Robyn Hayles, and also to ensure there was a succession plan in place for me. Which there now is and Peter Murphy has taken on that role.”

STAFF RECOGNITION A HIGHLIGHT

Among the highlights in all Angela’s years on the BRHS board has been seeing the recognition of not only the hospital, but its staff as well.

“Not only within Gippsland but within the system,” Angela said.

“The hospital has a very good reputation, about the way that we reach out into the community, the way we’ve managed our resources, the way we’ve grown, and we’ve got a good solid relationship with the department.

“A lot of our staff over the years have received national and international recognition for the work that they’ve done, presenting at conferences or symposiums, so we’ve been providing those opportunities for staff.

“In the past two years, while the board oversaw it but mainly through the work of CEOs from Gippsland Lakes, Omeo, Orbost and Bairnsdale health services, we’ve got a strategic services plan, which means that we share resources, we partner, we collaborate, to ensure that we don’t duplicate services, noting that we all have specific areas of strengths and can support one another.

“Even though BRHS is seen as the lead health service, this plan is definitely about partnership and respecting autonomy and difference and so on. That plan is a really terrific piece of work.

“Our relationship with the aboriginal community has really developed over the past five to 10 years in terms of the aboriginal community trusting the health service to be culturally inclusive, that it’s a safe place to come and that their particular needs and cultural values are respected.

“Along with our core staff at the hospital, our range of visiting specialists, some of whom have been coming here for a very long time, has grown and is a really terrific part of what we can offer.

“As much as we can, we provide a service locally so people don’t have to travel down to Traralgon or Melbourne.

“We’ve developed really strong relationships with our local GPs, also called visiting medical officers, and we do rely on our GPs from other practices to add to the specialist visitors.

“These are some of the really big things that I feel really proud of being a part of. There have been hiccups along the way, yes, but I do feel I’m leaving the hospital as a hugely strong and healthy public health service.”

Capital development highlights for Angela have been the oncology and dialysis unit, the MRI x-ray machine, the emergency department refurbishment, “which needs to be done again”, and the new Tambo ward that has recently been opened and awaits its official unveiling.

WORKING WITH A CHANGING DEMOGRAPHIC

“We have a very changing demographic in East Gippsland. We have an ageing community, but also our birth rates have been surprisingly booming,” Angela said.

“As a hospital we’ve tried to keep our antennae up to the changes in the region’s demographics and what that means for the services we deliver, in partnership with Gippsland Lakes, Omeo and Orbost.”

Working with the changing needs also means keeping up with changes in technology.

“It’s about how changes in technology can enhance the way we deliver services. And we need to embrace it. The rapid changes in medical technology are just extraordinary,” Angela said.

She says enhancing the levels of health literacy is an area where there is still a lot of work to be done, “so people understand a little better about what health and wellbeing means and making sure people are keeping an eye out for one another, not just their physical health, but their emotional and mental health”.

“People need to be able to ask the right questions and not be afraid or daunted by the person standing there with the stethoscope around their neck or about to put a thermometer in their mouth,” she said.

“People need to feel empowered about their health and understanding of it.”

A GOOD MIX

Around the board table, Angela said the members have worked hard to be a good team.

“We’ve not always had the perfect skills mix, but I have worked hard, particularly in my role as chair, to encourage members of the community to apply for the board, to make sure we have the right skills mix and also the right values around the table.

“We have a set of values of mutual respect, being transparent, being honest and not afraid to ask any question. Ask the questions and you will be respectfully answered.

“The members who remain on the board, I think they feel empowered, developed and ready, even though there was a degree of nervousness about me and Doug going, to take on the next challenge.

“Robyn has only been in the CEO position for six months, and the relationship between the board and the CEO is so critical, but they’re ready to build that.”
So where does Angela see it all going from here?

“Over the next five years I think it will be about what can be done to attract capital funding for refurbishing of the emergency department. We need to make sure that we have such a reputation for outstanding health care that we can attract the brightest and the best who want to come and live and work in East Gippsland, not just the clinicians but right throughout the hospital,” she said.

“We need to be constantly thinking about the next round of board renewal, keeping the succession plan in place, because everyone’s term will come to an end. Refreshing that means that we can continue to build a strong connection with good communication with the community.

“We also need to ensure relationships with the other services, not just in East Gippsland but across Gippsland, are strong and robust, and patients have pathways, for example if they need to come from Orbost to Bairnsdale and maybe then on to Traralgon or Melbourne, we need to make sure clinical pathways are in place for continuity of care.”

PASSION FOR COMMUNITY

Angela came to East Gippsland from Melbourne 24 years ago with her husband to work at what was then East Gippsland Institute of Tafe, now Federation Training.

“I worked there in an administrative role until about 11 years ago after my husband died. The past seven years I was there I was the CEO but I decided life is too short and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life at Tafe,” she said.
Since that time Angela has carried out project work, consultancy work in strategic planning and leadership programs, has been on the Gunaikurnai Traditional Owner Land Management Board, the board for employment service, Workways, has been on the Regional Development Australia committee for the past seven years and on a number of committees for the shire in advisory roles.
Her passion for her community is exceptionally strong.

“I am very passionate about joining the dots, pulling it all together, working with other people, groups, services,” she said.

“People’s access to education and training has been my key driver through all of this. Health care, whether it’s primary care through GPs or through the hospital, was just a natural step.”

Aside from her other community commitments, including a new posting on the board of Federation Training, which she is determined to see “thrive and survive”, Angela is looking to have a break from health. However she is considering coming back to the hospital.

“I’m very keen to come back as a volunteer with my Labrador, Katie,” she said.
“I’d love to see dogs visiting hospital. It’s not in place yet – you can’t just let any old dog into a hospital – but that is my plan. I’d love to come back with my dog to visit and sit with patients.”

HIGH PRAISE FROM DOUG

As Doug Vickers vacates his chair on the hospital board, he recognises the “outstanding, unbelievable leadership of Angela Hutson to the board over 17, 18 years”.

“Comparatively, to Angela’s input and commitment, I’m a minnow in this,” Doug said.

Doug’s time on the board began eight years ago following the recommendations of some local community people and ratification by the government.

He was deputy chair for his last four years under Angela and had been chair and member of subcommittees, mainly the audit and risk sub-committee.

“The fact that the hospital is considered highly in the community, as a positive organisation within the community, that is the highlight of my time on the board,” he said.

“That’s why you go on as a community member, to ensure that community members do feel safe, do feel confident in what the hospital provides.”

Doug was on the selection panel for the former chief executive officer, Therese Tierney, and again for new CEO, Robyn Hayles.

“To be a small part of that selection process has been great, and Therese has certainly left the hospital in a better place than where she found it, which is a mark of every leader’s success, and I think Robyn will also be seen an outstanding CEO of Bairnsdale Hospital.

“I think her personal attributes, commitment and understandings are very high. It’s a great partnership, to have her and the Bairnsdale community.

“There is now the regulation that you can only be on the board for 10 years, and yes, I could stay on for another two years. I had been deputy chair for four, and within my current role as principal of Bairnsdale West Primary School I wasn’t going to be able to be chair, because of the time commitment that goes with that.
“Angela had her extra year to help with the transitions, and I guess I just felt it was the right time for me to leave, too.”

COMMITMENT TO SCHOOL

Doug’s role at Bairnsdale West is where his commitment now lies.

“When I first started on the hospital board, the time commitment and the need to be well read, to understand an industry and an environment that wasn’t familiar, took a huge amount of time,” he said.

“But it was a really positive position for me, with great learning.

“It was a time when the hospital was experiencing some challenges, so it was a big commitment. When you’re a volunteer the commitment should always be there to do the best you can and what’s best for the organisation you’re volunteering for.

“I volunteer in a few other areas and you can’t do these things by halves. You can’t be half pregnant; you’ve got to be all in.

“I think volunteering is a very important part of community. Personally, I think it’s important for people to volunteer, but certainly Angela’s example and commitment over the period is just huge.

“It’s not just the time and commitment, she also brought with her very strong leadership qualities. She’s ethical, challenging and of a high level of intelligence, which has been a great asset to the hospital, and then within that, the wider community.

“Robyn is certainly committed to the ongoing development of the organisation or culture of the place and that’s an important focus.”

Now having stepped into the shoes as board chair, Peter Murphy expressed his appreciation of the efforts put in by both Angela and Doug over the years.

“My very sincere thanks on behalf of the BRHS board go to both Angela and Doug for their long, valuable and significant contribution to the board and the hospital generally,” Peter said.

“Both have made a very significant contribution, on a voluntary basis, to the hospital and the community generally over a long period of time.”

PICTURED: Angela Hutson leaves the board of Bairnsdale Regional Health Service proud of what it has achieved as a team over the nearly 18 years she has been a member, the last six in the role of chair.