A nurse who started a charity from a granny flat in her parent’s backyard to reduce hospital waste has taken out one of the Australian nursing profession’s most prestigious honours.
Brisbane’s Claire Lane MACN was today named the 2022 winner of the Health Minister’s Award for Nursing Trailblazers, a national award recognising nurses whose leadership has led to innovative solutions addressing key challenges facing our health and aged care systems.
Claire received the award for her work with Save our Supplies, a for-purpose organisation that collects excess clean usable medical supplies from hospitals.
Working with Rotary, they redirect the supplies to areas of need, including developing nations, war-torn areas like Ukraine and Flood impact regions of Australia.
The announcement was made at the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) National Nursing Forum in Darwin by Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care Ged Kearney.
ACN CEO Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN congratulated Claire on becoming the fourth nurse – and third successive from Queensland – to win the Health Minister’s Award for Nursing Trailblazers.
“Claire is an exceptional woman and nurse who has used her leadership, expertise and passion for social impact – characteristics our profession prides itself on – to make the world and future a better place,” Adjunct Professor Ward said.
“She not only created an innovative solution to address one of the biggest challenges facing our healthcare systems, but has gone above and beyond to use it to improve the health of people across the world.
“She exemplifies the mission of the Health Minister’s Award for Nursing Trailblazers, showcasing to Australians the leading role nurses’ skills and expertise play in shaping the lives of those we care for.
Assistant Minister Ged Kearney noted the honour she felt as a nurse to announce the recipient of the Health Minister’s Award for Nursing Trailblazers. She also reflected on “how proud she was to have been a nurse” and that she wanted “every single nurse to be proud of what you do every day for all Australians”.
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Sovereign capability uplifted
Skilled labour, in particular skilled in the manufacture of MTP products, namely competency in Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), was identified as one of the key priorities, according to Jarrod Belcher, Director of the REDI Program at MTPConnect. Through a competitive process, MTPConnect selected additional industry training providers to deliver new programs addressing key skills gaps in the sector workforce.
Launched in September 2022, one of these programs is GMP Uplift developed by the Centre for Biopharmaceutical Excellence (CBE). CBE bring experience across large and small Biologics, Pharmaceuticals and Regenerative Medicine companies, both in consulting and GMP related enterprise training. CBE staff also have extensive experience in GMP operations, compliance, auditing and QMS design, a wide industry network for guest lecturers and readily available case studies.
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Belonging in a medical device company
Edith de Boer is the HR Director for Zimmer Biomet in Australia and New Zealand. Her career originally was in telecommunications and consulting in Europe. After leaving The Netherlands, Edith worked into the Australian medical research industry, before moving into a human resources role at Zimmer Biomet. Edith spoke to Australian Health Journal about her role and the organisation.
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Emerging researcher appointed to James Packer Chair in Mood Disorders at UNSW
The UNSW Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health is widely renowned as the pre-eminent psychiatry research department in the country and one of the leading university psychiatry research groups internationally. In 2023 it celebrated 60 Years of Psychiatry & Mental Health at UNSW Sydney.
Australian Health Journal spoke with Professor Kimberlie Dean, Head of the Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health at UNSW Sydney, about the recent appointment of mental health disorders expert and clinician researcher Dr Aswin Ratheesh to lead the James Packer Chair in Mood Disorders at UNSW Sydney.
