Renee Kelsall always knew as she progressed through her medical degree that she would work rurally – what she didn’t know was that she would become Chief Medical Officer of an expanding country hospital.

Renee, a geriatrician, took over the role of Bass Coast Health CMO two years ago aged 34, by far the youngest CMO in Victoria and one of only a few females in the position. At the time, Bass Coast Health’s hospital at Wonthaggi was rolling out plans to substantially grow its current services and its building. Its new emergency department, for example, will be triple the size of the current one. Adapting services to changing COVID-19 guidelines

has also added to the list of challenges.

Then there have been the changes Renee has made herself.

“Probably the biggest challenge, and opportunity, has been the recruitment and retention of specialist staff,” she says. “This is something I have always been passionate about; improving the staffing, improving access to care for our rural community, not just medical specialists but also in other areas such as surgery, oncology, cardiology and paediatrics.

“My family visits this hospital – so I absolutely want it make it the best!”

It was Renee’s family who sparked her interest in medicine. Her mother was a nurse and father a radiologist at Leongatha Hospital, South Gippsland, where Renee would visit as a girl. Exposure as a teenager to oncologists and other doctors when her mother had breast cancer, was another influence.

Renee chose to study at Monash Clayton because of its people-focussed approach and the opportunity to have rural placements.

“Monash’s emphasis on patient first and patient inclusiveness absolutely shapes what you end up being like as a doctor,” she says.

Renee gained a Fellowship in Geriatrics in 2015 and returned to South Gippsland from Melbourne to open her own geriatrics clinic in Leongatha. She was working at Monash Health, and in Wonthaggi Hospital’s geriatrics ward when she was encouraged to apply for the BCO role by Bass Coast Health CEO Jan Child. Bass Coast was already impressed by Renee’s performance and efforts to improve patient outcomes in the hospital’s geriatric services and had observed her leadership traits.

Renee’s vision is to see Wonthaggi as a high-performing and sought-after training hospital. She has the ambitious goal of providing the same level of care at Bass Coast Health that metropolitan services provide.