Our Board
The Board is responsible for the governance activities of the service, deriving its authority from the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011 and the Hospital and Health Boards Regulation 2012.
There is a clear distinction between the strategic role of the Board and the operational role of the Executive. The Board controls the service for which it is established, whilst the Chief Executive and leadership team are responsible for implementing the Board’s directions and for the day-to-day management of the service.
The functions of the Board include:
- developing the strategic direction and priorities for the operation of MNHHS
- monitoring the compliance and performance
- ensuring safety and quality systems are in place which are focused on the patient experience, quality outcomes, evidence-based practice, education and research
- developing plans, strategies and budgets to ensure the accountable provision of health services
- ensuring risk management systems are in place and overseeing the operation of systems for compliance and risk management reporting to stakeholders
- establishing and maintaining effective systems to ensure that the health services meet the needs of the community.
The Board has ten independent members who all reside in the local catchment area, strengthening local decision making and accountability for health policies, programs and services within MNHHS. Each of the Board Members brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in public, private and not-for-profit sector with a range of clinical, health and business experience.
The following committees support the functions of the Board, each operates with a terms of reference describing the purpose, role, responsibilities, composition, structure and membership:
- Executive Committee (terms of reference)
- Safety and Quality Committee (terms of reference)
- Finance and Performance Committee (terms of reference)
- Risk and Audit Committee (terms of reference).
Board meeting summaries
The Board publishes a summary of the key points discussed and decisions made at each meeting. The summaries highlight key points discussed and any decisions that were made by the board. They do not form or represent any part of the minutes of the meeting.
Board members
Dr Stable’s roles over a career spanning 40 years included Vice-Chancellor and President of the independent, not-for-profit Bond University for 8 years, Director-General of the Queensland Department of Health for 8 years, Member and Chair of the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council for 8 and 2 years respectively, Hospital Medical Superintendent and Chief Executive (for 14 and 4 years respectively), Flying Doctor (for almost 3 years) and General Practitioner. Other current Board appointments include as Director / Chair of Health Workforce Queensland, and Director of the Royal Flying Doctor Service – Queensland Section, Rural Health Workforce Australia and North and West Remote (Primary) Health.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP) and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD). Other long-standing Fellowships, from which he has retired, were the Royal Australian College of Medical Administrators (FRACMA), the Australian College of Health Service Executives (FACHSE) and the Australian Institute of Management (FAIM).
He has a Master of Health Planning (MHP) degree from the University of New South Wales and an undergraduate degree in Medicine (MBBS) from the University of Queensland. Dr Stable was appointed an Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland in 1997, and at James Cook University, Townsville, in 2001.
A Centenary Medal was awarded to Dr Stable in 2001. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Queensland University of Technology (DUniv) in 2002 in recognition of his ‘significant contribution to the community and outstanding leadership in health care in Queensland’. Upon his retirement in December 2011, the Council of Bond University conferred upon him the title of Emeritus Professor in recognition of his eight years ‘distinguished service’ as Vice Chancellor and President of the university.
In May 2013, Dr Stable was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division (AM) ‘For significant service to the community of Queensland through innovative and strategic management in the areas of tertiary education and health’.
Dr Kim Forrester is a registered nurse and barrister at law, her clinical background includes intensive and coronary care nursing. She is a member of the Australian College of Nursing. Kim established the Masters in Emergency Nursing program at Griffith University and was a foundation academic in the School of Medicine. She currently holds an academic appointment as Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine at Bond University.
Kim’s areas of legal practice include coroner’s inquests, professional regulation and child protection. She held the position of Assistant Commissioner (legal) on the Queensland Health Quality and Complaints Commission from 2006 to 2009 and is a member of the Queensland Law Society’s, Elder Law Committee. Kim publishes extensively in the area of health law. She is editor of the Nursing Column in the ‘Journal of Law and Medicine’, and co-author of the texts, ‘Essentials of Law for Health Professionals’, ‘Australian Pharmacy Law and Practice’ and ‘Essentials of Law for Medical Practitioners’.
Veronica (Bonny) Barry RN BNsg is a Registered Nurse currently working on the nursing team at a large Retirement Village in the Brisbane Northern suburbs.
Bonny started her nursing career at the Royal Brisbane Hospital in 1977 and has worked at RBWH and TPCH and the Holy Spirit in Brisbane and is qualified in Oncology/Palliative care specialties. Bonny has worked as a nurse for over 28 years, across community, hospice, hospital and clinic settings in both Queensland and Victoria.
Bonny was for 6 years the Professional Officer for Aged Care and Private hospitals for the Queensland Nurses Union. In 2001 Bonny was elected to the Queensland Parliament as the State MP for Aspley, a position she held for 8 years. During that time Bonny was a member of many parliamentary committees including Chair of Caucus and Chair of Health Estimates and the Assistant Minister for Education, Training and the Arts from 2006 to 2009.
After Parliament Bonny worked for the private sector before undertaking a Re Entry to Nursing program in 2012 to regain her license as a Registered Nurse.
Bonny is an experienced board member having served on the SkillsTech TAFE Council for 3 years and as a member of the Australian Workers Heritage Management Committee.
Bonny is a published Nurse Author “ The Nature of Decision Making of the Terminally Ill “ with Amanda Henderson – Cancer Nursing, Philadelphia Press.
Bonny is also a 10 year + Breast Cancer survivor.
Professor Helen Edwards is Head of School of Nursing at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane and a member of the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation. Helen is also a Program Leader for the Wound Management Innovation Cooperative Research Centre. Helen is internationally recognised for her work in ageing and chronic disease. Her research is focused on evaluating models of care for people with chronic wounds and self-management of chronic disease. She leads the wound management research team in the Faculty of Health at QUT and works with multi-disciplinary teams and in partnership with industry. This involved establishing the Wound Healing Community Outreach Service at QUT which Helen oversees.
Helen was involved in establishing the $110 million Wound Management Innovation Cooperative Research Centre which is the largest wound research initiative globally. It focuses on development of cost-effective and practical wound therapies, diagnostics and interventions. Professor Edwards is also Director of the Queensland Dementia Training and Study Centre (Funded by Commonwealth Government and located at QUT).
Professor MaryLou Fleming is Head, School of Public Health and Social Work at the Queensland University of Technology. She has experience in teaching and research in higher education, public health and health promotion for over thirty years.
Her research activity focuses on evaluation research and translational research for the World Health Organisation, both Commonwealth and Queensland Governments as well as consultancy projects for Queensland Health and the not-for-profit sector. She has co-authored two books, one on Health Promotion and an Introductory Public Health textbook and written several book chapters. She is current Director of the Australia China Centre for Public Health at QUT and is a Board member of Wesley Medical Research.
Professor Fleming has been a member of a number of health-related committees in the non-government and government sectors including Health Promotion Queensland, Board of the Wesley Research Institute, Board of Governors St Andrew’s Hospital, National Heart Foundation and the Queensland Cancer Fund and Chair of the Quality Management Committee for Breastscreen Queensland. She has been a panel member for NHMRC project grants and the National Endeavour Awards selection panel. She is a member of the Public Health Association of Australia.
Mike is an experienced company director with a strong commitment to corporate governance. He has over 30 years experience as a senior finance and commercial executive, primarily in healthcare and manufacturing. Mike currently consults to listed and unlisted companies and organisations on financial and business re-engineering, risk management, governance and strategic planning.
He currently holds the following director appointments:
- Independent Director, Isis Central Sugar Mill Ltd
- Chair, Open Minds Australia Ltd
- Director, Aviation Australia Pty Ltd.
- Director, Sugar Research Australia Ltd
Mike’s past appointments include: inaugural Chair of the Metro North Brisbane Medicare Local, Director of South East Alliance of General Practice, Chair of the Brisbane Metropolitan Region TAFE, Chair Southbank Institute of Technology and Chair Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE. He is a former President of the Queensland Division of CPA Australia.
Geoff has had an extensive career in healthcare management covering over 30 years. He has held operational roles at several leading hospitals including Royal North Shore Hospital, Westmead and the Royal Womens Hospital in Melbourne. After a period as Chief Executive at one of Ramsay Healthcare’s facilities, Geoff established and ran their Malaysian subsidiary working closely with the Malaysian Ministry of Health in the planning of several major new facilities.
In addition to period as a consultant to healthcare organisations in Queensland, Geoff has also worked as CEO of two Brisbane law firms and was Global Leader for a commercial advisory practice providing strategic and commercial advice to government clients around the world.
In recent years Geoff has worked more broadly as an advisor to governments and private sector clients on significant infrastructure projects in the transport, healthcare and resources sectors. Geoff is currently AECOM’s Infrastructure Advisory Leader for Australia & New Zealand as well as their market sector lead for Healthcare and Transaction Advisory.
Geoff has qualifications in Economics, Accounting, Marketing and Health Services Management, has been a board member of the Infrastructure Association of Queensland and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an Associate Fellow of the Australian College of Health Serves Management.
Associate Professor Cliff Pollard is a retired general surgeon, he undertook his surgical training in Queensland and obtained post Fellowship experience in the United Kingdom. Cliff has been the staff surgeon and visiting medical officer at Redcliffe Hospital, prior to moving to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in 2008 as the inaugural Director of the Trauma Service, retiring in 2012. As a member of the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps, he deployed to Bougainville and East Timor.
Cliff has a major interest in all aspects of trauma management in both pre-hospital and hospital environments, he has presented widely on the topic both nationally and internationally. More recently was the Ministerial Clinical Advisory Council and is Chair of the Statewide Trauma Clinical Network. Cliff has been an examiner in general surgery for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and currently, teaches anatomy in the Advanced Surgical Anatomy Course. Cliff holds an Adjunct Associate Professor’s position in the School of Medicine, The University of Queensland.
Dr Margaret Steinberg AM has expertise in governance and ethical decision making, as well as experience as a clinician, health administrator, academic and director of public, private and third sector organisations. Margaret is a former Commissioner of the Criminal Justice and Crime and Misconduct Commissions and Chair of their Audit and Governance Committees. She was Foundation Deputy President of the Guardianship and Administration Tribunal, Assistant Commissioner of the Health Quality and Complaints Commission and Chair of its Consumer Advisory Committee.
Margaret has special interest in governance, public and community health and currently sits on a number of professional disciplinary and regulatory Tribunals as well as being Patron, Governor or Director of third sector organisations. Margaret has a PhD (Child Health and Education) and Masters of Physiotherapy, her awards include a Churchill Fellowship (disability), NHMRC/ PHRDC Travelling Fellowship (telemedicine) and WHO study (HIV/AIDS).
Margaret was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2003 in recognition of her service to public health and welfare policy through research in the areas of ageing, disability and social justice.
Mr Adrian Carson has more than 20 years’ experience in the Indigenous health sector. As the current CEO of the Institute for Urban and Indigenous Health, Mr Carson played a key role in leading and managing change in Indigenous health including the implementation of the COAG Close the Gap and Health and Hospitals reform agenda. He has worked as CEO of Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council, the peak body for unity controlled health services in Queensland, and consulted with State and Commonwealth Health departments.
Contact us
Metro North Board
Located: Level 14, Block 7
Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
HERSTON QLD 4029
Phone: (07) 3647 9702
Email: MNBFeedback @health.qld.gov.au