Liverpool Hospital is in good hands. Very good hands.
These hands belong to new general manager Robynne Cooke, who is so cool, calm and collected she helped avert a mid-air drama recently.
Ms Cooke was on her way to Ireland to attend a wedding, when an elderly passenger became unwell and the pilot asked if there was a nurse or a doctor on board.
The pilot told passengers that he was considering the possibility of stopping the flight and landing in Delhi, India, if no-one could help the stricken passenger.
Ms Cooke, who began her career as a nurse, came to the rescue, calmly dealing with the situation, allowing the plane to continue its journey to the UK.
“Yes, that’s true,” Ms Cooke says modestly of her actions thousands of feet up in the air.
She admits that she has always sought challenging roles in her career, which now means being on call most of the time as Liverpool Hospital GM. She started there in April of this year.
Ms Cooke says that growing up she was thinking of becoming either a dietician or a chef, but, “I was put off by the hours in those jobs”. Ironically, she now finds herself in a job that’s potentially a 24/7 challenge a lot of the time.
Ms Cooke is also a very down to earth person, and loves talking to anyone, including patients, as she gets around the giant that is Liverpool Hospital these days.
“I’ll start talking to patients in the lift sometimes, ask them how everything is and who the doctor is they are going to see.
”When we part, I say to the patients, ‘bye, and don’t forget to tell your doctor you’ve been talking to the GM.”
So, to cool, calm, collected and down to earth we must add a lovely sense of humour, something she may need from time to time when things go wrong in the biggest hospital in NSW.
Asked what her job is all about, Ms Cooke replies: “It’s a balancing act, between day to day operations matters and working on strategy.’’
Following its most recent expansion costing more than $300 million, Liverpool Hospital has close to 900 beds, although not all have been commissioned just yet. It has an annual budget of $560 million and is the biggest employer in the Liverpool area.
“We spend $65,000 an hour to run Liverpool Hospital,’’ says Ms Cooke.
But don’t be alarmed that the new general manager only has eyes for the hospital budget, even though it’s obviously a very important part of her job.
Ms Cooke says that she wants everything that happens in the hospital – strategy, culture, day to day operations, results in the “best possible outcome for our patients’’.
“That’s the bottom line, yes,’’ Ms Cooke says.
“That’s why it’s most important that we keep working on building a culture that focuses on the best result for our patients.’’
Ms Cooke admits she is an outsider – “Yes, I’m a Mexican’’ – having grown up in Melbourne, but says she has been warmly received by the hospital and the Liverpool community.
“It’s been very welcoming, and I appreciate that,’’ she says.
In her previous incarnation, Ms Cooke was the Executive Director of Acute Health at Northern Health, one of Victoria’s busiest public health services.
At Liverpool, and after just a few months at the helm, Ms Cooke sees education and research the key factors as Liverpool Hospital expands its reach.
As luck would have it, one of the best up and coming medical research organisations, the Ingham Institute, operates right out of Liverpool Hospital.
“We need to be able to recruit the best researchers possible in order to achieve our goals,’’ Ms Cooke says.
“But I think it’s also important to go out and about and get involved with the local community, which I am doing.”
Of course she is.
How else did I find out about the aeroplane incident?
Isn’t it nice to know we have someone that is sincere in her vocation and dedicated doing exactly what her oath says. Few and far between I say.