THEY have run some of the state’s biggest health services operations and now they have joined forces to form a consultancy to help others do the same.
Neale Fong, the former director-general of Western Australia’s Department of Health and former CEO of St John of God Subiaco, has teamed up with Tim Shackleton, former CEO of WA’s Royal Flying Doctor Service, to consult in the sector under the banner of Australis Health Advisory.
The pair believe the increasing complexity in the delivery of health services, due to both the increasing availability of technology and heightened public expectations regarding health care, have created an opportunity for them to apply their skills.
The object is to assist health-sector management by using their experience.
“Managing in the health system is getting more and more demanding … not just in skills but also in time,” Mr Shackleton said.
“Health works better when various agencies in the system work together and are integrated.
“But sometimes you (management) don’t stop to spend the time to turn your mind to communicating with other agencies.”
Mr Shackleton said the strategy was to tackle the top end of the health market consulting sector, usually inhabited by the big-four accounting firms and some of the major management consulting brands.
The pair intend to grow the business to be a medium-size player, offering services across Australia and South-East Asia. Both have a strong pedigree in health management, including the political issues that tend to swamp the sector.
Mr Shackleton’s background leans heavily towards regional health. Before starting his five-year stint as chief of the WA RFDS in 2006, he spent 18 months as the regional director of the WA Country Health Service’s Wheatbelt Region and nearly six years as regional director and general manager of state government health services in the Pilbara-Gascoyne and Murchison regions.
He was also previously executive director of the WA Asthma Foundation. Since leaving the RFDS in July, he has been consulting under the name of Virtual Health.
Dr Fong, who is also a former chairman of the WA Football Commission, has remained closely connected to the sector since he quit as head of the Health after a controversial period in the political crosshairs during which he tried to reform the department’s operations.
He is currently project director for Curtin University’s proposed medical school, is a director of the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute and chairman of Bethesda Hospital.