National Lead Clinicians Group
Enhancing clinical leadership and engagement in the Australian health system
The Australian government is committed to enhancing clinical leadership and engagement at the local,
state and national levels through the Lead Clinicians Group initiative
The National Lead Clinicians Group provides high level leadership, advice and expertise on national clinical
issues to the Australian Government. The group seeks to improve and foster clinical best practice and
collaborative ways of working across disciplines and sectors.
Following a competitive Expression of Interest process, membership of the National Lead Clinicians Group
was announced by the (then) Minister for Health and Ageing on 29 September 2011.
The National Lead Clinicians Group has 16 members. It is chaired by Adjunct Professor Russell Stitz, AM,
and its members span healthcare sectors including hospitals, specialist medical and dental services, general
practice, allied health, aged care, mental health, rural and remote and indigenous health.
National Lead Clinicians Group met in Sydney on 7th and 8th June 2012.
(l-r) Dr MacDonald, Prof Picone (ACSQHC), Prof Glasgow, Dr Pesce, Prof Jones, Dr Bowman, Adj Prof Stitz, Prof Clarke, the Hon
Tanya Plibersek, Assoc Prof Whitehead, Dr May, Dr Wenitong, Prof McDonald, Ms Riley, Prof Baggoley (Commonwealth CMO),
Ms Gosby, Prof Anderson (NHMRC) , Dr Bryant (Commonwealth CNMO). Absent: Mr Benson, Ms Locke, Dr Patel, Prof Saunders.
National Group to have an enhanced role
As part of the federal budget 2012-13, the Australian Government is supporting clinical leadership and
engagement through three interlinked strategies of the Lead Clinicians Group initiative:
1.
An enhanced role for the National Lead Clinicians Group, including providing advice on strategies to
improve multidisciplinary clinical engagement to promote best practice across settings of care.
2.
Developing a National Clinicians Network to promote clinical leadership and engagement by sharing
local innovative models of integrated care through state and national forums.
3.
Funding capacity building activities through the Australian Medicare Local Alliance to work with
Medicare Locals to improve clinical leadership and engagement across sectors at a local level.
National Group determines priorities for 2012-13
The third meeting of the National Lead Clinicians Group was held in Sydney on 7 and 8 June 2012. A key
item of the agenda was priority setting and planning for the short and medium term. Major areas of focus
for the National Lead Clinicians Group for 2012-13 have been identified as follows:
a) Promoting and spreading successful clinical practice nationally – working with state and territory
clinical leaders and officials to host state and national forums to identify and promote best
practice health care and innovation across Australia.
b) Engaging clinicians to enhance the quality and outcomes of care – enhancing and promoting
clinical leadership and engagement in planning, priority setting and system improvement.
c) Integrating best practice - in partnership with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality
in Health Care, promoting clinical handover across health disciplines and health settings.
d) Promoting patient centred interdisciplinary care – working with the Australian Medicare Local
Alliance and other key stakeholders at the local level to identify, promote and support
interdisciplinary care across the spectrum of healthcare and settings.
Information on the Group’s work plan for 2012-13 will soon be available on the website
www.leadclinicians.health.gov.au.
National Lead Clinicians Group Membership
Adjunct Professor Dr Russell Stitz, AM (Chair)
Is Commissioner at the Queensland Health Quality and Complaints Commission, senior surgeon at the Royal Brisbane and
Women’s Hospital and has been Professor of Clinical Surgery and Head of the Discipline of Surgery for the University of
Queensland. He is a past President of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and past Chairman of the Committee of
Presidents of Medical Colleges. He has also been a Director of the Australian Medical Council.
Mr Tim Benson
Is an experienced senior health consumer representative and a member of both the national and state peak consumer health
bodies, as well as the North Metropolitan Health Service Area Executive Group in WA.
Dr Mark Bowman
Is a practising dentist in Victoria, federal and state councillor of the Australian Dental Association and President of the Australian
Society of Periodontology.
Professor David Clarke
Is Clinical Director of Community, Access and Partnerships, Mental Health Program at Southern Health in Victoria, and Head of
Psychiatry within the School of Psychology and Psychiatry at Monash University.
Professor Nicholas Glasgow
Is a practising palliative medicine specialist and General Practitioner in the ACT, and Dean of the Australian National University
Medical School.
Ms Helen Gosby
Is a nurse practitioner in the emergency department at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, NSW, and President of the
Australian College of Nurse Practitioners.
Ms Melissa Locke
Is a practising specialist paediatric physiotherapist (Fellow of the Australian College of Physiotherapists), sessional lecturer at
Griffith University and National President of the Australian Physiotherapy Association.
Dr Ameeta Patel
Is a practising rural general practitioner and clinical educator in the Northern Territory.
Dr Alasdair MacDonald
Is Director of Medicine, Clinical Integration, Reform and Stroke Care within the Tasmanian Northern Area Health Service and
active in education and policy within the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
Dr Jennifer May
Is a practising general practitioner in rural NSW, GP Academic at the University of Newcastle Rural Clinical School, immediate
past Chair of the National Rural Health Alliance and the Chair of the Rural Doctors Association Female Doctors’ Group.
Professor Tracey McDonald
Is an aged care research professor who holds the RSL LifeCare Clinical Research Chair of Ageing at the Australian Catholic
University.
Ms Toni Riley
Is a practising pharmacist in a regional Victorian pharmacy providing opiate replacement, primary care services and services to
residential care facilities.
Dr Andrew Pesce
Is a practising obstetrician and gynaecologist, currently appointed as Clinical Director in Women’s Health in the Western Sydney
Local Health District and a member of the Local Health District Board, as well as the immediate past President of the Australian
Medical Association.
Dr Mark Wenitong
Is a founder and past President of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, and the senior medical officer for Apunipima
Cape York Health Council, an Aboriginal community-controlled health service delivering primary care to remote Cape York
communities.
Associate Professor Craig Whitehead
Is a practising geriatrician at Repatriation General Hospital in South Australia and the Regional Clinical Director for Rehabilitation
and Aged Care.
Professor Christobel Saunders
Is Winthrop Professor and Head of Unit for Surgery (QEII Medical Centre) and Academic Sub-Dean, University of Western
Australia. She is responsible for conducting a large number of clinical research projects in cancer, and is a prime teacher of
surgery to undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Western Australia.
National Lead Clinicians Group ex officio attendees
Prof Warwick Anderson—National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Prof Chris Baggoley—Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer
Dr Rosemary Bryant—Commonwealth Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer
Prof Dorothy Jones—Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council
Dr Michael Smith—Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC)
Facts and Figures

The National Lead Clinicians Group was established in September 2011 and its role is being enhanced in 2012-13.

The Australian Government is investing $13.9 million over 2012-13 to 2015-16 to support the work of the
Group.

For more information
The National Lead Clinicians Group Secretariat - Department of Health and Ageing
Email Lead Clinicians - 02 6289 8760 -Lead Clinicians Website