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Joe McDonald has been appointed to the key senior role of Chief Executive Hospitals South, following a competitive recruitment process.
Mr McDonald is a senior healthcare executive who will bring significant experience to the role.
Mr McDonald will join the Tasmanian Department of Health from his current role of General Manager of the Northern NSW Local Health District, a position he has held since July 2018. Mr McDonald regularly covered the Director of Clinical Operations role over the past five years, involving responsibility for delivering clinical services for a population of more than 313,000 across an area of more than 20,000 square kilometres. This included eight hospitals, four multi-purpose sites and 20 community health centres with almost 4000 staff.
As general manager of the Tweed Hospital, Mr McDonald managed a busy regional hospital facility, with more than 55,000 emergency department presentations per year, with 200 ED accessible beds and more than 2000 staff. This role had a key focus on emergency department and elective surgery access.
Among Mr McDonald’s key achievements in that role was leadership and management of a large $723 million, 430-bed regional hospital build in the Tweed Valley to replace an existing facility, including masterplanning, design and commissioning. He also played a leading role in COVID-19 planning, including to create additional negative pressure surge spaces in the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit, management of outbreaks and risk management across Northern NSW.
Prior to that, Mr McDonald held senior health positions in South Australia, including as Director of Enterprise Patient Administration System (EPAS) and Outpatients Services with the Central Adelaide Local Health Network from May 2017-June 2018. He was the Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network from December 2013-May 2017, managing hospitals and services for a population of 380,000 people in southern Adelaide.
This is a key senior position for the Tasmanian health system - including leadership of Tasmania's largest hospital - and Mr McDonald's significant experience and skill set will be a great asset to the health system.
The Department of Health would also like to acknowledge and thank Dr Stephen Ayre who has been acting in the role in recent months.
Mr McDonald will commence in his new role on 27 November.