
By Catherine Watson
BASS Coast Health’s CEO Jan Child has stepped down after eight tumultuous years during which she transformed local health services.
BCH Board Chair Ian Thompson announced her resignation on Friday and paid tribute to her achievements.
Long-serving executive Shaun Brooks will take on the Acting CEO role while the board undertakes a formal recruitment process.
When the Department of Health co-opted Ms Child as acting chief executive in March 2016, Bass Coast Health was in crisis. The CEO had left suddenly, just days after the board chairman had resigned. Wonthaggi Hospital faced a $3.5 million deficit, along with dilapidated facilities, declining services and declining patient numbers.
BASS Coast Health’s CEO Jan Child has stepped down after eight tumultuous years during which she transformed local health services.
BCH Board Chair Ian Thompson announced her resignation on Friday and paid tribute to her achievements.
Long-serving executive Shaun Brooks will take on the Acting CEO role while the board undertakes a formal recruitment process.
When the Department of Health co-opted Ms Child as acting chief executive in March 2016, Bass Coast Health was in crisis. The CEO had left suddenly, just days after the board chairman had resigned. Wonthaggi Hospital faced a $3.5 million deficit, along with dilapidated facilities, declining services and declining patient numbers.
“It was a renovators’ delight, for sure,” Ms Child told the Post. The great positive she found was dedicated and compassionate staff and strong community support.
Under her direction, the turnaround was remarkably quick. Within two years, a $5.8 million health and medical hub had opened Phillip Island and a $115 million upgrade of Wonthaggi had been announced.
Specialist appointments at Wonthaggi hospital had often relied on who happened to have a holiday house at Inverloch or on the island. Ms Child set about establishing more rigorous partnerships with major Melbourne hospitals.
Under her direction, the turnaround was remarkably quick. Within two years, a $5.8 million health and medical hub had opened Phillip Island and a $115 million upgrade of Wonthaggi had been announced.
Specialist appointments at Wonthaggi hospital had often relied on who happened to have a holiday house at Inverloch or on the island. Ms Child set about establishing more rigorous partnerships with major Melbourne hospitals.
In the past, stroke and heart patients were choppered to a city hospital for treatment at a cost of around $10,000 each time. Today most can be treated at Wonthaggi Hospital by a leading neurologist, thanks to the miracle of telemedicine. Partnering with The Alfred and other major Melbourne hospitals has given Bass Coast patients access to services that previously seemed unthinkable, including the ability to treat stroke and heart patients. Generations of locals had faced the arduous trip to a Melbourne hospital for chemotherapy for weeks at a time when they were at their most vulnerable. Today up to 80 per cent of cancers can be treated locally at the L. Rigby Cancer Centre, with the assistance of visiting specialists. | ![]() Warrior of change Oct 22, 2024 - Few people in their lifetime will achieve what Jan Child did in her eight-year tenure at Bass Coast Health. Mary Whelan pays tribute. |
Another game changer has been the provision of geriatric services. With an ageing population, both Wonthaggi Hospital and the Cowes hub have access to specialist geriatricians, either through telemedicine or face-to-face consultations.
Remarkably these are all public services, funded by Bass Coast Health.
The transformation continues. Before the 2022 election the Labor Government announced $290 million to complete the second and third stages of redevelopment at Wonthaggi Hospital.
The second stage will add two new 32-bed wards, a medical ward and a sub-acute ward, in a new three-four storey building with an outpatient and day therapy area (including a new dialysis centre) on the bottom and first floors.
A new Women’s Health Centre will incorporate a labour and delivery complex with birthing suites that will enable more complex births to be performed at the hospital. The radiology precinct started in the first stage will also be completed, along with refurbishing of allied health treatment spaces, administration buildings and training areas.
This month, Bass Coast Health announced it would build $13 million hotel-style accommodation behind the Wonthaggi Hospital for visiting specialists.
It’s a far cry from the “debts, dilapidated facilities, declining services and declining patient numbers” that Ms Child inherited.
Remarkably these are all public services, funded by Bass Coast Health.
The transformation continues. Before the 2022 election the Labor Government announced $290 million to complete the second and third stages of redevelopment at Wonthaggi Hospital.
The second stage will add two new 32-bed wards, a medical ward and a sub-acute ward, in a new three-four storey building with an outpatient and day therapy area (including a new dialysis centre) on the bottom and first floors.
A new Women’s Health Centre will incorporate a labour and delivery complex with birthing suites that will enable more complex births to be performed at the hospital. The radiology precinct started in the first stage will also be completed, along with refurbishing of allied health treatment spaces, administration buildings and training areas.
This month, Bass Coast Health announced it would build $13 million hotel-style accommodation behind the Wonthaggi Hospital for visiting specialists.
It’s a far cry from the “debts, dilapidated facilities, declining services and declining patient numbers” that Ms Child inherited.