Mission

To build confidence in healthcare in NSW, by making it demonstrably better and safer for patients and a more rewarding workplace.

Vision

The CEC will be the publicly respected voice providing the people of NSW with assurance of improvement in the safety and quality of healthcare.

• Falls Program
• Special Reviews
• Medication Safety
• Finance and Audit
• Human Resources
• Communications
• Public Relations

• Special Committees
• SCIDUA
• CHASM
• Patient Safety
• IIMS
• CLAB, QUAIC
• SEPSIS
• HAI

Chair and Members of the Boards of the Clinical Excellence Commission and the Agency for Clinical Innovation

Deputy Premier and NSW Minister for Health, Carmel Tebbutt, announced the appointment of a new Board for the Agency of Clinical Innovation and the Clinical Excellence Commission on March 15, 2010.

The establishment of the Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) is part of the Government’s response to the Garling Inquiry into the acute care system in NSW public hospitals.

The ACI will also actively engage clinicians and consumers by establishing appropriate clinical and consumer groups by June 2010. These groups will advise the Board by providing experience and expertise in the development of new models and standards of care.

Common board membership will strengthen collaboration and cooperation, particularly in the identification of priorities and work plans. Professor Cliff Hughes, Chief Executive of the Clinical Excellence Commission and Professor Hunter Watt, Chief Executive of the Agency for Clinical Innovation will sit on their respective Boards, further reinforcing the links between the two organisations.

Chair

Associate Professor Brian McCaughan

Associate Professor Brian McCaughan is a cardiothoracic surgeon and his major clinical interest is the management of lung cancer. He is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. A/Professor McCaughan was a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Quality in Health Care. He was appointed to the NSW Health Council, and served as the President of the New South Wales Medical Board from October 1999 until December 2004. He is currently Chair of the Sustainable Access Health Priority Taskforce and a member of the Health Care Advisory Council for NSW Health. He was recently awarded Member of the Order of Australia for his services to medicine.

Members

Ms Lee Ausburn

Ms Ausburn obtained a Master of Pharmacy with the University of Sydney and in 2008 graduated from the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In her senior management positions with the pharmaceutical industry she had many years of experience aligning access to therapeutics with clinical guidelines. She has held senior positions in economic and public affairs, health economics and Market Research.

Mr Ken Barker

Mr Barker has many years experience in NSW public sector and financial management, and strategic expertise. As former Chief Financial Officer of the NSW Health, he has expertise in the NSW public health system and its position within the Australian healthcare system. Ken is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the National Institute of Accountants. He was awarded the Public Service medal in 2002 and was the Chair of the NSW Treasury Managed Fund Advisory Board for 16 years. He is currently the financial/ business expert on the National Blood Authority Advisory Board and independent member on its Audit Committee.

Melinda Conrad

Ms Conrad graduated in Business Administration at Harvard University. She has recently been appointed to the Board of the Australian New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group (ANZBCTG). She is also a Board member of the Garvan Institute Foundation and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Her professional training and executive experience is grounded in business, with particular emphasis on organisation design, change management, community engagement and systems improvement. She is currently in private practice specialising in the health and social services sectors.

Dr Andrew Cooke

Dr Cooke is currently a Resident Medical Officer at St George and Sutherland Hospitals. He also has a Master of Laws, and practised as a solicitor with public and private sector experience in NSW and Victoria. He received the Sydney University Medical School Travelling Fellowship in 2008 and a Full Commonwealth Scholarship to Cambridge to undertake graduate training in law (medicine) in 2001 to 2002.

Ms Robyn Kruk

Ms Kruk is a current member of the CEC Board being initially appointed to the Board in February 2009. She is currently the Secretary of the Commonwealth Environment, Water, Heritage and Arts portfolio. Ms Kruk is a former practising psychologist and has many years of experience in senior roles in the public sector including Director-General of Health and Director-General of the Department of Premier and Cabinet. She holds a Bachelor of Science, Psychology (Hons); Master of Administration; and, has completed the Harvard Advanced Management Program.

Professor Carol Pollock

Professor Carol Pollock trained as a specialist in renal medicine, was appointed as a kidney specialist and senior lecturer to Royal North Shore Hospital in 1991 and the Professorial Chair of Medicine in 2000. Carol is currently Chair of the Area Health Advisory Council and Chair of Research for the Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service. She is the immediate past Chair of the Greater Metropolitan Clinical Taskforce, which has transitioned into the ACI. She is a founding director and currently Chairperson of Bio Med North, a company supporting the development of intellectual property out of the health sector, and sits on the boards of several philanthropic organisations supporting medical research.

Professor Carol Pollock, who was the inaugural Chair of ACI/CEC boards, has accepted the position of Chair of the Governing Council for the Northern Sydney Local Health Network (LHN) and had agreed to stay on as a member of the Boards.

Tomas Ratoni

Tomas Ratoni is currently a Paediatric Clinical Nurse Consultant in the Northern sector of NCAHS. He has a background primarily in paediatric critical care and paediatric and neonatal retrieval medicine and more recently has discovered a taste for general paediatrics. He has a passion for teaching and is an instructor for APLS (Australia).

Dr Richard Matthews

Dr Matthews is Deputy Director-General, Strategic Development at the NSW Department of Health. Dr Matthews started his career in general practice and developed an interest in the fields of drugs and alcohol. Dr Matthews is also a former Chief Executive of Justice Health. In his current role, he has strategic planning responsibility for the development of state-wide services, primary and community health, mental health and drug and alcohol, inter-government funding and chronic disease management issues.

Professor Janice Reid

Professor Reid is currently a member of the Clinical Excellence Commission Board. She has been Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Western Sydney since 1998. She is a recipient of several awards and honours both in Australia and overseas, and has served on a number of boards at State and Federal level in a range of fields, including health and welfare. In 2003 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for service to Australian society in health and university administration.

Associate Professor Gabriel Shannon

Adjunct Associate Professor Shannon is a current member of the Clinical Excellence Commission Board. He has experience in rural health having practised in Orange and the Central West of NSW since 1980. He is currently a Staff Specialist Physician, the Director of Physician Training at Orange Base Hospital. He is Sub-Dean of Orange Campus of the School of Rural Health, University of Sydney and is the Clinical Leader of the Clinical Governance Unit at Greater Western Area Health Service.

Chief Executives

Professor Clifford Hughes AO

Professor Clifford Hughes is the CEO of the Clinical Excellence Commission in New South Wales. For 25 years, until January 2005, he was a Senior Partner in an extremely busy cardiothoracic surgical practice at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He holds fellowships in the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons, the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Chest physicians as well as the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Professor Hughes was awarded the Order of Australia in 1998 for "service to cardiac surgery, international relations and the community".

Dr Hunter Watt

Dr Hunter Watt is the CEO of the Agency for Clinical Innovation. Dr Watt has practiced as an adult and paediatric urologist with the Northern Illawarra Hospitals Group for more than 25 years, having first been appointed a Visiting Medical Officer in 1982. He was Chairman of the Division of Urology for the Illawarra Area Health Service from 1999 until 2005 and Director of the Surgical/Peri-operative Stream for the South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service (SESIAHS). Dr Watt is a member of the NSW Health Surgical Services Taskforce, and is Clinical Associate Professor with the Wollongong University Medical School. Dr Watt was appointed GMCT Chief Executive in October 2008.

The CEC gratefully acknowledges Queensland Health and iStockphoto for permission to use their photography throughout this website.