Marea Steel, Business Improvement, Infection Control and Education Coordinator

An experienced registered nurse, working in both the public and private sectors, as well as in various quality and education roles for more than 30 years, Marea joined MetroRehab Hospital as a registered nurse in 2018. Not long after however, Marea saw an opportunity to apply her wide range of skills and experience and moved into her current role as Business Improvement, Infection Control and Education Coordinator.

Marea describes her role, as ‘ensuring the quality of all patient-centred care and making sure that the education needs of staff are maintained’.

Her role spans business improvement, maintaining patient satisfaction, managing incidents and complaints, and ensuring that MetroRehab Hospital is meeting all its accreditation requirements - both National Standards and NSW Health Accreditation requirements.

Marea also oversees mandatory training and education in-service sessions for staff. She says her role is a supportive one in which she is always happy to ‘lend an ear’ and work through any issues or concerns that staff may have. “I’m not just nursing focused, I’m organisation focused,” she says.

Finding ways to solve problems and improve service delivery are two aspects of the role that attracted Marea, as is the flexibility that her role provides: which includes a four-day working week, and the opportunity to vary those days, depending on her work or home life requirements.

Marea describes the work environment at MetroRehab Hospital as ‘very welcoming.’ “It’s a lovely place to work,” she says. “What I like is that there are no divisions within the teams. It’s not always about the work; my colleagues also see me as a person with a life and family. It’s incredibly supportive.”

Marea also sees the benefits of being part of a larger organisation through Royal Rehab. She says it provides her with opportunities to discuss ideas and access support from across the organisation. ”It’s not a critical environment, it’s supportive, and there is the opportunity to gain experience in different areas.”

Marea says that customers often remark that the care and expertise they received from MetroRehab Hospital is well beyond what they expected. “The care and the expertise are there, the quality of care we give, our medical expertise, our staff, even the quality of the food – it’s all here. It’s a great place to work,” she says.