Congratulations to Mater Director Physiotherapy (recently appointed to Director Administration, Wards and Steward Services) Siona Hardy who won in the Emerging Leader category of the Mater People Awards.      

The award sought to recognise an individual for excellence in leadership through demonstrated commitment to improving the experience of Mater People and consumers, enhancing safety culture, innovation, efficiency and efficacy all while creating a positive impact for the health of our community.

Siona Hardy was recognised for her leadership skills particularly in the areas of team culture, safety, innovation and financial stewardship. Within six months of commencing her role saw staff engagement rise from 19 to 54 percent as Siona started to showcase and celebrate achievements, introduce social activities and foster opportunities to help build a cohesive team.

During COVID-19, Siona developed and led training of her team in the used of PPE and to prepare for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Siona’s calm, thorough and organised approach set the tone for the team.

She has fostered many initiatives to improve Mater’s efficiency and efficacy, in collaboration with other clinical services including, initiating the review of a program that reduced duplication between services and number of patient visits required while maintaining clinical outcomes.

The physiotherapy team has also partnered with Mater at Home to enable new services to be delivered in the patient’s home. She has been responsible for improving referral mechanisms which enabled a private service to grow by more than 40 percent in one year.

Siona has increased departmental productivity by more than 10 percent in six months by benchmarking with other like services, setting increased expectations and targets, streamlining processes, continually providing feedback to staff on progress, and celebrating success.

Siona should be commended on her success and she will receive a professional development grant from the Mater Staff Education Fund.

Congratulations to the other finalists for these awards including,

• Matt Little, Finance and Business Partner Group Finance and Decision Support
• Dr Emma Paterson, Deputy Director Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Catherine Sorensen, Manager Inpatient Antenatal and Women’s Health
• Talissha Wagner, Organisational Development Manager