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Neale Fong and Hard Knocks I got out of clinical medicine because I like working with organisations and in teams of people.” “I know that clinical medicine works as teams, but working in an organisation requires bringing together clinical and other departments, people, finance, all sorts of things to share that common vision.” “If you build good people around you, they absorb some of those hard knocks with you. That is another lesson.” “Some of the scandals that happen in the health care system undermine people’s faith in what’s happening. In those situations you need strong leadership.” “I remember one example when there was an alleged so-called paedophile ring at one our children’s hospitals and when that became even half true, the rumour sent huge shock waves through the community. So we had to come out very strongly and understand what was going on, and where those allegations and rumours were coming from.” “In that situation a rumour was enough to undermine confidence. So we worked quickly and while, not proven, certain issues were uncovered that ensured that we improve our vetting systems.” “The merger of our five teaching pathology services 13 years ago is another good example of leadership. Those empires were all going on their own trajectory and we had to bring them together in one pathology service, which is now a worldclass, centralised service.” Juggling a lot of balls Neale is currently Executive Chairman of Bethesda Health Care. His leadership and management skills are used extensively. He is Chair of the WA Country Health Service, Professor Healthcare Leadership at Curtin University, President of the West Perth Football Club, a Non-Executive Director at companies including Little Green Pharma, Neurotech International Ltd, Sleep
Dr Neale Fong in 2006 when he was Director General of Health with the then State Coroner Alistair Hope Studies Australia, Alerte Digital Health, and honorary National President of Australasian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM). “Bethesda is a faith-based hospital, but we are not embedded in the denomination anymore. We are independent and have a Board of Directors that answers to the members. They were in serious trouble here 10 years ago and the new team were able to steer Bethesda out of those difficult times,” he said. “We have completed a $10 million theatre development and refurbishment. We look to maintain our place as the premier palliative care provider in Perth as well as a surgical hospital focusing on orthopaedics, urology, gynaecology, breast surgery and plastics.” “We have a wonderful organisation, unbelievable staff, the staff turnover is zero because we have a great team-based approach with high quality nursing care on the edges of the Swan River.”
“We believe that there is a really important place for private hospitals in the whole health care system in Australia. We are concerned about issues such as private patients in public hospitals who are displacing public patients from waiting lists in favour of private patients, sometimes for the convenience of doctors and sometimes to drive revenues for the public hospitals.” “We are concerned that this does undermine the private hospital system, so we are keen to see that issue addressed.” Neale’s Bethesda office is, not surprisingly, adorned with AFL memorabilia. His leadership in AFL football is well known, chairing the WA Football Commission for nearly 10 years and having been honorary chaplain to the Eagles for 23 years. “My recent foray into football has been to take on the presidency of the West Perth Football Club, for which I played in the in the 1980s. The club was placed into voluntary administration in the middle of last year and coming out of that they instituted a new board and asked me to steer the club on for the next two years or so.” “It is the oldest football club in WA, one of the real stalwarts of AFL footy. I want to try and ensure that it has a strong future. The Joondalup Falcons is the only club that is in the northern suburbs of Perth, north of Leederville.” “I love playing in team sport. It teaches lots of lessons in terms of reliance on team mates and there’s no room for big egos in a really good team.”
By Mark Balnaves Neale with the crew at the Joondalup Falcons
12 | JUNE 2019
MEDICAL FORUM