32 DR PETER GILLIES

DARLING Downs Hospital and Health Service chief executive Dr Peter Gillies has brought broad experience to the public health system in the region.

Appointed to the role in 2016, Dr Gillies swiftly set about directing the heath network through a challenging period of aging infrastructure overburdened by a growing, and older, population.

Working closely with the DDHHS board, Dr Gillies has developed strategies for those challenges including investigating the viability of relocating the existing Toowoomba Hospital to the Baillie Henderson grounds.

A doctor for nearly 25 years, he worked in South Africa and the United Kingdom in hospital and general practice roles. Dr Gillies immigrated to New Zealand in 1995 where he was the general manager of a health software company and regional manager for a not-for-profit private hospital group.

He relocated to Toowoomba in 2009 as director of medical services before moving into the hospital’s general manager role. He now oversees the DDHHS’s 5000 employees across 20 hospitals and six residential care facilities.

He first came to Toowoomba in 2009. Internationally regarded, Dr Gillies is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators, has a Masters of Business Administration and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr Gillies was one of three hospital chiefs to sign the Health Industry Partnership Memorandum of Understanding in 2017, a landmark initiative in partnership with the Toowoomba Regional Council and Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise.

The DDHHS was allocated $801.1 million in the state’s 2018-19 Budget.