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Michele Smith Chief Executive Officer Michele Smith is a respected leader in the South Australian health sector with a proud track record of innovation in acute and aged care gained over a professional career spanning more than 30 years.

Adelaide born and raised, Michele completed her nursing studies at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the late 1980s and worked as a registered nurse in private and public hospitals – including the Repatriation General Hospital, Stirling Hospital and Lameroo District Hospital – across both metropolitan and regional South Australia.

She moved into health administration and management some 15 years later, serving in various executive positions with the Country Health SA Local Health Network (CHSALHN) and developing strong financial, staff and project management skills.

After initial periods as Executive Officer and Director of Nursing for Eastern Eyre Health and Aged Care and Chief Executive Officer for Mid-West Health and Aged Care Incorporated, she was appointed Regional Director, Eyre Far North in 2007, with responsibility for 11 hospitals, 10 aged care facilities, two medical centres and a range of community-based services over a vast area of some 200,000 square kilometres.

She was also the driver behind the introduction of a range of new services across the region, including elective surgery, renal dialysis, chemotherapy, residential aged care, community care packages and Aboriginal Health programs, and counts among her major achievements the successful $42m and $36m redevelopments of the Port Lincoln and Ceduna Hospitals respectively.

Her passion for health planning, innovation, quality and safety saw her lead Eyre Far North to the CHSALHN’s top performer in the 2016/17 financial year.
An Associate Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Managers and an Australian Council on HealthCare Standards (ACHS) Surveyor, Michele looks forward to guiding NECH through an exciting new growth phase, where its patient-first philosophy and unique connection with the community will lie at the heart of a drive to entrench the organisation’s envied standing as a provider of healthcare excellence from birth to aged care.

My quest for cultural nourishment has just begun

Published: 12/07/2018   Category: CEO Blog

It is NAIDOC Week and as I sit in the weak winter sunshine enjoying a cup of tea from my beautiful Aboriginal artwork mug hand-painted by a young Anangu woman from north of Ceduna, I cannot help but reflect on culture and the effect it has on us as individuals and on the organisational microcosms […]

Volunteers give a little, change a lot

Published: 12/06/2018   Category: CEO Blog

In a population of some 24 million, a staggering 25 per cent – or a shade over 6 million – Australians volunteer their time for one cause or another. That’s a most heartening figure and testament to the enormous generosity and community-mindedness of the average Aussie. It’s also something we at NECH know only too well, where our […]

Our quality is in fine health

Published: 15/05/2018   Category: CEO Blog

There are few things in the life of a hospital CEO as satisfying as having independent accreditation auditors pop by to tell you that your hospital has passed the stringent assessment with flying colours. I experienced that pleasure just a few days back when the two interstate people in question stepped into my office following […]

A warm welcome

Published: 11/04/2018   Category: CEO Blog

Thanks for the warm welcome to “the Family”! I know Annette Nelson kindly provided you all with a bit of an overview on me and my pending mid-March arrival as North Eastern Community Hospital’s new Chief Executive Officer but now that I am here and have had a few weeks to settle in, I thought […]

Keeping the Direction

Published: 13/03/2018   Category: CEO Blog

by Annette Nelson, Acting CEO I must confess that when I stepped in as acting CEO of North Eastern Community Hospital a few weeks back, it was with some degree of trepidation… as there was the uncertainty of keeping the ship moving forward in the same manner in which Scott Williams did whilst preparing the […]

Remembering friends and colleagues as time marches on…

Published: 01/02/2018   Category: CEO Blog

We’ve just welcomed in the new year and chances are we did it with a glass of bubbles in hand and to the strains of “Auld Lang Syne”, that traditional Scottish tune penned by poet Robbie Burns all those years ago. Just a few weeks into 2018, it’s with mixed emotions that I’m again called […]
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Hospital

Address:
580 Lower North East Road Campbelltown SA 5074

Phone: (08) 8366 8111
Fax: (08) 8365 1139
Email: exec@nech.com.au

Aged Care

Address:
Cnr Lennox Street & 580 Lower North East Road Campbelltown SA 5074

Phone: (08)8366 8111 Ext 338
Fax: (08) 8366 8260
Email: exec@nech.com.au

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