HEALING HOSPITAL
NEW BOSS TACKLES CULTURE AND BIG DEBT
DANIEL BATEMAN daniel.bateman@news.com.au CAIRNS Hospital boss Clare Douglas has zero tolerance for bullying in her health service, but does admit there is room for improvement in combating bad workplace behaviours.
In a wideranging interview with the Weekend Post, the chief executive has addressed staff concerns about a perceived bullying culture within the health organisation.
“Obviously, it’s a very large organisation with 5500 people in it, so at times, there are workplace cultures in certain departments that – as the chief executive – I don’t have any tolerance for bullying or harassment.
“It’s important for me to find out where those issues are and then ensure that they are effectively dealt with.”
The former Victorian nurse said the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service was developing new core values for its staff to work by to ensure they were followed by all.
“I think, at times, people think they have not been heard,” she said.
“It’s really important to me that we listen to what staff are saying and work with them to address issues as they come.
“Because things do happen.”
It has been a rollercoaster ride for Ms Douglas, the former chief of the Mackay Hospital and Health Service, since she arrived in Cairns in May to replace Julie Hartley-Jones in the Far North’s top hospital gig.
Within a few months, CHHHS was rocked by financial crisis, with revelations that it was facing a record-breaking $80 million operating deficit for the end of the 2016-17 financial year.
This led to the resignations of the entire hospital board, and the departures of several members of the executive team. Since then, Ms Douglas – who has since been permanently appointed as CEO – says she has helped to right the ship.
“It’s a challenging job, but I think in that six months I was really able to get some better governance and structure and process in the organisation as well as really trying to connect with the clinical staff about what their concerns and issues are, and how as a chief executive and executive, we could support them in delivering services for our community,” she said.
The health service is currently on track to whittle its enormous debt down to $52 million by June 30, which Ms Douglas assures will not be the result of staff redundancies or slashing services.
It will take at least two to three years before the service is able to ditch its deficit. But, in the meantime, Ms Douglas is busy developing a new clinical services plan, which is expected to be released later this year.
She said, if money were no obstacle, she would love for Cairns Hospital to follow in the footsteps of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast in having tertiary public health services and establishing a Cairns University Hospital.
“The best of the best will come if you’ve got good clinical practice, a good education practice and a good research practice,” she said.
“That’s for us to entice those people to come.
“That’s what our organisation needs to work towards in the future.”