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Canberra Today 17°/21° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Doctor in charge

PSYCHIATRIST Dr Peggy Brown arrived as director-general of ACT Health last year and a month later walked straight into the controversial bullying case in the maternity services department.

“This role is full of challenges and I guess my way of tackling challenges is to put your head down and look for the best way forward,” said the clinically trained psychiatrist, and one of the few medical doctors to take the helm of ACT Health.

“I’m pleased to say the maternity services are doing fine and dandy at the moment, they have the new women’s and children’s hospital under construction.

“And we’ve done a lot of work in relation to the issue of bullying and harassment in the ACT workplace that was behind some of the concerns previously, we’ve made some really solid progress in that.

“We have a very high quality and a very strong health service. I think that the people of Canberra should feel very proud of the health service they have in their community.

“Unfortunately, we’ll always have issues. It’s a human service, dealing with people at their most vulnerable.

“It’s unrealistic to think we can run a department that doesn’t have incidents or issues.”

Since then, it’s been a busy period of change for the married mother of two teenagers. The health directorate has seen a series of changes including a massive restructure, a new intensive care unit and the redevelopment of the Canberra hospital.

Dr Brown, who hails from country Queensland, joined ACT Health as director of clinical services for ACT Mental Health in 2004. Before she came to Canberra, she had spent 18 months in the UK.

Despite finding psychiatry “incredibly emotionally draining”, she was fascinated by it.

“I really like working with people, I find people fascinating; why they do what they do,” she said.

Dr Brown stopped practising as a clinical psychiatrist in January last year, but continues to maintain her skills through professional development with the College of Psychiatrists.

She believes it’s this clinical understanding that helps her lead ACT Health.

“I do think it’s important and I think it’s important for the staff as well,” she said.

“I think a lot of staff like having a doctor as director-general. And that sense that you have worked in that system in the front line, you know what it’s like, you know some of the challenges, the complexity of it.”

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Ian Meikle, editor

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