POSITION DESCRIPTION
Position Title:
Senior Staff Specialist O&G and Head of Unit, Obstetrics
Program / Business Unit:
Division of Women’s & Children’s Services
Location / Campus:
Sunshine Hospital, Western Health
Classification:
Determined upon experience and qualifications
Type of Employment:
(e.g. full time / part time)
Full-time 76 hrs/fortnight
Accountable and Responsible to:
Clinical Services Director – Women’s & Children’s
(To whom does this position report?)
Divisional Director – Women’s & Children’s
Direct Reports: (who reports to this position?)
Junior Medical Staff
Date of Preparation:
September 2014
(does not take effect until signed)
Western Health:
Western Health is the pre-eminent provider of health services in the western metropolitan region of Melbourne.
Fast becoming known as a vibrant, progressive organisation, Western Health focuses on achieving excellence in
teaching and research. Western Health caters for one of the most multicultural regions of Melbourne and offers
an extensive range of clinical services.
The health service incorporates Sunshine Hospital, Western Hospital (Footscray), The Williamstown Hospital,
Reg Geary House and Hazeldean nursing homes, The Sunbury Day Hospital and DASWest, a drug and alcohol
service. With an annual budget of approximately $400 million, Western Health employs around 5,000 employees
and provides services to around 700,000 people.
Western Health is committed to providing high quality undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research.
The health service encourages innovations in patient care, staff professional development and research
activities. Our clinicians, nurses and allied health professionals are involved in a diverse range of activities that
have received recognition at a local, national and international level.
Western Health has links with The University of Melbourne, Notre Dame University (Werribee Medical School),
La Trobe University and Victoria University of Technology.
Further information is available at
www.westernhealth.org.au
Western Health Statement of Purpose:
Working collaboratively to provide quality health and well-being services for the people of the West.
Western Health Values:
Western Health aspires to be a values-driven organisation and all staff are required to behave in alignment with
the following values:
Compassion - consistently acting with empathy and integrity
Accountability - enabling employees to be responsible for decisions and actions
Respect -
for the rights, beliefs and choice of each individual
Excellence -
inspiring and motivating, innovation and achievement
Safety -
working in an open, honest and safe environment
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Head of Unit – Obstetrics September 2014
Focus On Five Strategic Priorities
To make sure we stay focused, and to help us manage our resources and services appropriately, we have
identified five key priorities:
Safe and Effective Patient Care
 Western Health will deliver services in accordance with its model of care
 Define the service profile for Western Health based on population health needs, the model of care
and broad health care priorities
 Integrate service provision, clinical governance and risk management in a Western Health
governance model to ensure safe and effective patient care
 Integrate capital development works to deliver on the Western Health model of care and clinical
services plan
 Deliver an information systems strategic plan that ensures the investment strategy optimises
opportunity for technology to support safe and effective patient care and efficient organisational
performance
People and Culture
 Ensure we are driven by our values
 Provide leadership that inspires and enables delivery of strategic objectives
 Focus on achieving performance excellence
 Ensure our workforce has the capability and capacity to deliver strategic objectives
 Promote safe and healthy people at work
 We also recognise the need to integrate the implementation of People and Culture strategy with
aspects of the other strategic themes, recognising that ultimately, a sustainable workforce delivers a
sustainable service
Community and Partnership
 Planned and comprehensive collaboration with community and partner organisations to understand
our community
 Ensure community engagement and partnership activities are incorporated in relevant aspects of
service planning, design and delivery
 Consult local communities that may be under-represented in the mainstream, to inform and identify
issues surrounding access, outcomes, and priorities as defined by those communities
 Promote consumer engagement and participation across our business
Research and Learning
 Encourage, promote and support research
 Clinical practice informs and reflects evidence-based research.
 Position Western Health as an academic leader in teaching and research
 Become an organisation that actively learns in order to improve the service
 Provide learning, training and development opportunities for current and future staff to enable
excellence in service delivery
Self-sufficiency and Sustainability
 Ensure financial viability through prudent resource management
 Develop and optimise income streams
 Manage and improve assets and infrastructure within available funding
 Ensure ongoing service planning informs both current and future needs
Site Specific Information:
Sunshine Hospital
Sunshine Hospital is a major general hospital in Melbourne’s outer west with approximately 300 beds. Already
renowned for its comprehensive range of services including women’s and children’s services, aged care and
rehabilitation services, the hospital underwent a major redevelopment in mid 2001 to establish adult acute
services. This project included the addition of a general emergency department, a general medical unit and
palliative care facility, as well as the expansion of aged care and rehabilitation services. Sunshine Hospital’s
emergency department, incorporating a paediatric service, is one of the busiest general emergency departments
in the state. Sunshine Hospital is located only 20 minutes from the CBD, just off the Western Ring Road.
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Head of Unit – Obstetrics September 2014
Western Hospital
Western Hospital is a 323-bed acute teaching and research hospital responsible for providing a comprehensive
range of inpatient and outpatient acute health services. The hospital conducts research in areas such as
gastroenterology, emergency care, oncology, respiratory medicine and sleep disorders. Two of Western Health’s
latest Centres for Excellence, the Centre for Cardiovascular Therapeutics and the Centre for Oncology and
Gastroenterology, are based at Western Hospital. Western Hospital also provides some of the most advanced
diagnostic imaging equipment available in Melbourne, including 2 64 slice CT scanners and a state-of-the-art
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) facility. The Western Hospital is only 10 minutes from the CBD.
The Williamstown Hospital
The Williamstown Hospital is the oldest community hospital in Melbourne. Hospital staff and the community
celebrated the hospital’s 110th birthday in 2004. The 86-bed hospital offers a comprehensive range of inpatient
and outpatient services including general surgery, general medical and allied health services. The Williamstown
Hospital is located just 500 metres from the beach and 15 minutes from the CBD. The hospital is located across
the road from the railway station.
DASWest
DASWest, located near Western Hospital, is a community program of Western Health offering flexible and
practical support and treatment for individuals and their families affected by substance use. Our services cover
all of the western suburbs of Melbourne and extend to also cover the Barwon and Grampian regions of rural
Victoria. These services are aimed at four broad groups: adults, young people, women and children and persons
with a diagnosed mental illness who also misuse substances.
Hazeldean Nursing Home
Hazeldean Nursing Home, located in Williamstown, is an accredited high-level aged care facility with capacity for
39 permanent residents and one respite resident. The facility offers a secure, home-like environment for its
community of local residents. Hazeldean has provided residential care for the aged and for individuals of
younger age groups requiring 24-hour skilled nursing services since 1976.
Reg Geary House
Reg Geary House is an accredited high-level residential aged care facility auspiced by Western Health. The
Melton-based facility opened in October 1993 and provides a secure home-like environment for 30 long-term
residents.
Sunbury Day Hospital
Sunbury Day Hospital is a new facility (2011) that delivers treatment for a range of health conditions that require
specialist medical care but do not require an overnight stay in hospital. The facility delivers day medical services
and minor same day surgery for low complexity cases.
Business Unit Statement:
Western Health is one of the largest providers of maternity services in Victoria, delivering approximately 5300
women annually at Sunshine Hospital. The service is supported by 16 specialist obstetricians and
gynaecologists, 14 registrars and 9 HMOs. The service is a level 5 integrated maternity unit (Capability
Framework, Department of Health, Victoria) providing pregnancy care, labour and birth, postnatal and in home
care services for pregnant women and their families. Paediatric and anaesthetic support is available at all times.
There is a new 21 bed level 2 special care nursery and an Obstetric Medicine Unit. Since 2012 there has been a
specialist Maternal Fetal Medicine service which is rapidly expanding to support the growth in both birth numbers
and complexity of the Western suburbs of Victoria.
Western Health commenced a Core Training Program for RANZCOG fellowship in 2014 and supports medical
student education with students from The University of Melbourne and Notre Dame.
In February 2014 we progressed to a team based care system which provides for improved continuity of care for
our patients and improved continuity of training for registrars, HMOs and medical students. In this system,
patients are allocated to one of four teams based on their residential suburb. Each Team has a group of
obstetric and gynaecology consultants and a midwifery team led by a clinical midwife consultant. Clinical
responsibility from triage to outpatients and admissions and on to follow-up resides within the team.
A comprehensive obstetric outpatient service includes consultant led high risk clinics, a busy Maternal Fetal
Medicine service led by an MFM subspecialist. With an ‘all-risk’ midwifery group practice(MGP) model and
multiple community-based midwifery clinics the Sunshine Hospital maternity service provides comprehensive
care in a uniquely collaborative multi-disciplinary team-based environment. The obstetric service works in close
collaboration with the disciplines of Obstetric Medicine, Endocrinology, Neonatology, Anaesthetics, Perinatal
Mental Health, Addiction Services, Dietetics and others.
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Head of Unit – Obstetrics September 2014
Role Statement:
The Senior Staff Specialist O&G and Head of Unit, Obstetrics will be directly responsible for the planning and
implementation of a continuum of strategies that maintain and enhance the maternity and neonatal services at
the Sunshine campus, Western Health.
In particular the role will:
1. Provide leadership in ensuring the delivery of the highest quality maternity across both acute (inpatient)
and ambulatory (outpatient) settings.
2. Support strategies to enhance Western Health’s desire to provide exceptional training and experience in
obstetrics and gynaecology for trainees and medical students.
3. Support opportunities provided by the collaborative multi-disciplinary environment to develop services that
offer safe VBAC, breech and vaginal twin birthing options.
Key responsibilities include:
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The strategic development of care pathways in maternity that maintain and further enhance the delivery
of the highest standard of care at all points of the patient journey, from pre-conceptual counselling
through to postnatal services and future care planning for complex outcome patients.
Responsibility for clinical audit, review and improvement within the Maternity Service
Involvement in, and guidance of, continuing professional development (CPD) of consultant staff to
maintain currency of knowledge and skills relevant to high risk obstetric care.
Participation in HMO and accredited registrar training programs (Core, Advanced and SIMG) that
provides for a high-quality obstetric and perinatal training experience.
Complaints and incident management relevant to maternity service as appropriate.
Liaison with GP referral group, including participation in working parties as required to develop sharecare models and continue to improve the standard of community GP-based obstetric services.
Strategic planning and networking across Western Health and tertiary referral centers with particular
regard to the role of Sunshine Hospital as the largest non-tertiary maternity unit in Victoria.
The position is recognized as a senior clinical role within Western Health and is expected to contribute to the
further development of Western Health as a significant tertiary service.
Key Working Relationships:
Internal
 Divisional Directors
 Clinical Services Directors
 Executive Director Medical Services
 Department Heads
 Senior and Junior Medical Staff
 Directors of Nursing
 Nurse Unit Managers
 Nursing and Allied Health Staff
 Quality Manager and Clinical risk team
 Medical Workforce Unit
External
 RANZCOG
 University of Melbourne and Victoria University
 Patients, families and significant others
 Other Senior Medical Staff
 Other Health Services
 General Practitioners
 Community service providers
Key Accountabilities:
Leadership and Management
 Provide leadership in the obstetric and maternity service through effective management practices and
processes to ensure the highest quality care is delivered.
 Ensure the delivery of quality care to patient’s and their families through the effective and efficient
management of resources in partnership with all team members.
 Develop evidence based practices.
 Work collegially with medical, nursing, allied health and support staff to ensure the best outcomes for
patients.
 In collaboration with the Clinical Services Director and Divisional Director manage inpatient services and
support clinical governance across the continuum of care to provide efficient models in gynaecology.
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Head of Unit – Obstetrics September 2014
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Work in collaboration with the Clinical Services Director, Divisional Director and other senior clinicians to
monitor KPIs as they relate to the obstetric department, including clinical audit, morbidity and mortality
as well as other access and quality indicators.
Contribute to the performance planning/management and appraisal system for medical staff within the
Department.
Supervision of junior staff within the Department as relevant to the position description and duties
described herein.
Active involvement in credentialing and scope of practice of appropriate senior clinicians.
Provide ethical decision making in the achievement of organisation goals.
Practice Improvement, Research and Service Development
 Participate in the development, implementation and revision of treatment protocols and ensuring best
practice standards appropriate to each department through the utilisation and development of clinical
guidelines
 Participate in service planning including the development and setting of targets, resource requirements
and improvement priorities for the rehabilitation service
 Work collaboratively with other team members and other Unit/Department Heads to facilitate clinical
service improvement through clinical audit and research
 Ensure that consumer input is welcomed and encouraged and complaints investigated.
Direct clinical care
 Lead by example in delivering high quality clinical care to all patients of Western Health
 Actively participate in clinical meetings and respect the confidentiality of these meetings
 Be accountable for all care delivered by medical staff with delegated responsibility
 Provide expert clinical services for the Department within the Clinical Services Capability Framework for
the facility, and within the Clinical Privileges formally granted
 Ensure that consultations, treatment, care plans and other clinical management are delivered and
documented to support ongoing care and communication to meet medico legal requirements
 Ensure that the care of all patients is handed over to the appropriate delegate or other suitable
arrangements for follow up, including management of patient results is in place
 Ensure continuity of care by communicating appropriately with other medical practitioners, community
services and General Practitioners (GPs)
 Be accountable for all care delivered by junior medical staff with delegated responsibility
 Participate in resolving problems in care delivery utilising a multidisciplinary approach.
 Ensure discharge summaries requirements are met within a timely manner, ensuring GPs are contacted
for discharged patients
 Participate in the Consultants’ after hours on-call roster for the Department
Education, Training and Professional Development
 Ensure awareness of clinical experience and proficiency of junior medical staff delegated to deliver care
and provide direct supervision as necessary
 Participate in clinical teaching and skills development of junior medical staff and medical students
 Assist in the instruction and professional development of postgraduate and undergraduate students of
all health professions and disciplines
 Participate in mentoring junior medical staff
 Be involved in recruitment process of Junior Medical Staff
 Coordinate with relevant agencies, teaching and training within the service
 Undertake continuing and vocational education of medical officers and other members of the
Department
 Maintain personal qualifications in accordance with continuing certification requirements of relevant
medical college or other body
 Participate in health service provided professional development activities and keep up to date with
relevant developments in clinical and hospital practice
 Contribute to activities of professional association
Financial Management
 Comply with Western Health financial systems, policies and processes
 Participate in the development and monitoring of financial risk reduction
 Participate in identifying and implementing strategies for cost control
 Identify business opportunities through available funding streams, with particular reference to
development of the obstetric service.
 Participate in the development of business cases for service improvement, as per point above.
Information Management
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Head of Unit – Obstetrics September 2014
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Maintain a high and accurate level of clinical documentation
Be involved in medical documents audits
Analyse and use data to guide decisions and evaluate outcomes
Build networks and participate in benchmarking to seek and share information to assist in developing
best practice
People and Culture
 Participate in Performance Review and Development planning
 Operate in line with Western Health Human Resource (HR) policy and practice such as leave
applications, termination process, time recording and reappointment process
 Contribute to creating and maintaining a work climate that is conducive to positive morale and staff
growth and development and staff retention
 Establish and maintain professional relationships with staff, other professionals and other
units/departments and/or community agencies
Contribute to a safe work environment for all staff (mandatory)
 Conduct yourself in a manner that will not endanger yourself or others
 Follow Western Health's Occupational Health and Safety policies and procedures
 Report any unsafe work practices, hazards, near miss incidents and accidents
 Maintain an awareness of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1985 and the Accident Compensation
(WorkCover) Act 1992
 Contribute to safety awareness and promotion by contributing ideas and suggestions
 Maintain knowledge and practice of infection control / hygiene precautions and Western Health infection
control policies and procedures
KPIs
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100% compliance with clinical reporting
Achievement of activity targets
Participation in clinical audit, morbidity, mortality reviews and other quality indicators or research project
Compliance to Western Health performance development and performance management systems
Selection Criteria (Qualifications / Experience / Skills):
Experience/Qualifications
 Medical Practitioner registered in Australia
 Fellow of RANZCOG of at least 5 years standing
 Demonstrated experience and skills in high risk and complex obstetrics, including leadership and
management experience in a busy obstetric birthing unit.
 A special interest, but not necessarily subspecialist certification in, the discipline of high risk obstetrics.
 Demonstrated experience in all aspects of clinical service including, patient care, diagnostic techniques,
teaching and research
 Experience in providing clear direction and energetic leadership of a multidisciplinary team
 Demonstrated commitment to high quality patient care, excellence and best practice in health care
service delivery
 Demonstrated understanding of and commitment to clinical governance
 Demonstrated understanding of activity settings and budget management
Attributes
 Strong passion and interest in acute services
 Commitment to an approach which recognises the impact of social, cultural and gender determinants on
health and well being
 Open and approachable and responds to the needs of the service in a timely and accessible way
 Demonstrated skill and maturity in problem solving, negotiation and conflict resolution
 Demonstrated ability to make decisions and support rationale, clearly communicate decisions to relevant
parties
 Ability to adapt to organisational and environmental change
 Excellent communication skills, including written, verbal and presentation skills
 Analyses own performance in accordance with position expectations, develops goals and implements a
plan to meet those goals, maintains own knowledge and skills
Desirable
 Demonstrated ability, interest and commitment to promote, manage and participate in research
programs
 Knowledge of health issues in relation to Western Health’s catchment
 Acknowledgement of Western Health strategic themes.
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Head of Unit – Obstetrics September 2014
Note that appointment is subject to a satisfactory police records check prior to commencing unless the applicant
is already a staff member who is currently employed in a direct care job with Western Health.
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Head of Unit – Obstetrics September 2014
Authorisation required for all position descriptions:
Authorising Manager’s Name:
Authorising Manager’s Title:
Authorising Manager’s Signature:
Date:
(this Position Description accurately describes the essential functions assigned to this position)
Employee’s Name:
Employee’s Signature:
Date:
(I have read this Position Description and I understand its contents)
Authorisation by Executive / Divisional Director for new or generic position descriptions:
Executive / Divisional Director’s Name:
Executive / Divisional Director’s Title:
Executive / Divisional Director’s Signature:
Page 8 of 8
Date:
Head of Unit – Obstetrics September 2014