Health board chief to quit
Chair says ‘no pressure’ to leave
THE chair of the board at the scandal-plagued Bellarine Community Health has signalled her plan to stand down.
Hazel Ingram yesterday confirmed she had announced she would retire from the Bellarine Community Health board — becoming the board’s fifth high-position exit this year.
So far in 2017 four out of nine board members have retired, resigned or announced they would not return to their position, while the former chief executive John Fendyk also announced his retirement.
Ms Ingram denied there had been pressure to stand down after eight years in her position.
“My appointment time is up in November, so I’m just leaving a month or so early,” Ms Ingram said. “I wanted to be here to have time with the new CEO, who we’re excited about having on board, and so I wanted to have time to do a proper induction and hand over with Shane (Dawson).”
“I’m proud of my time with Bellarine Community Health.
“I acknowledge there has been some disquiet in the community over some decisions taken by the board, but those decisions were made to ensure that Bellarine Community Health remains a reliable and viable service provider on the Bellarine.”
Ms Ingram’s retirement will come following a tumultuous period for the community health organisation, which in November was asked to explain why it did not request that police investigate claims a former worker defrauded the organisation of tens of thousands of dollars.
Police did later investigate and a forensic audit was ordered by the State Government. Ms Ingram said the board “would love (the report) to be released” when finished.
Ms Ingram’s decision also came less than a week after BCH backflipped on a move to axe its overnight on-call nurses for palliative care clients and replace them with a phone support line.
The backflip came after Bellarine MP Lisa Neville launched a scathing attack on the “appalling decision” to cut services to some of the region’s most vulnerable residents.
BCH chief executive Shane Dawson last week apologised, reinstated the service and announced the establishment of a palliative care advisory committee.