Goulburn's Beth Hoskins takes chair of Southern NSW Local Health District Board

Goulburn community stalwart Beth Hoskins has been appointed as the chair of the Southern NSW Local Health District (SNSWLHD) Board.

Ms Hoskins, who joined the board in 2017, has served as deputy board chair since 2019 and as interim chair since mid-2022.

She is chair of the board’s performance committee and a representative on the Goulburn Community Consultation Committee.

Ms Hoskins has had a long-term executive career in accountancy and business advisory service, and extensive involvement in the not-for-profit sector with honorary roles that focus on governance, strategy and implementing financial control systems.

She a founding member of the Country Education Foundation of Goulburn and District, having served on the committee for 19 years, and has volunteered with the Country Universities Centre and Beyond the Orphanage.

The new SNSWLHD chair has also welcomed three new members of the district’s board.

“I am delighted that Ms Jennie Gordon, Dr Megan Keaney and Dr Vennassa Wong will be joining our board,” Ms Hoskins said.

Ms Gordon has had extensive involvement in health administration as a leader and manager in multiple settings.

Her experience in the Aboriginal community sector, community services, aged care, correctional health, and the non-government sector brings a broad range of experience to the board.

Ms Gordon is a proud Ngunnawal woman raised in and around Goulburn, on Gundungurra/Ngunnawal Country.

Dr Keaney is a medical practitioner, formerly employed in a senior policy and program management role in the Commonwealth Department of Health and has a sound understanding of the Australian healthcare system, policy, regulation, and funding with expertise in the operation of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and related programs.

She has an ongoing commitment to value-based healthcare and the policy, funding and health delivery settings that help deliver this.

Dr Keaney’s previous board experience includes time as chair of the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre (now Cancer Australia).

Dr Wong has a unique skillset, being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and is one of only 500 Indigenous medical practitioners in Australia.

She works as a clinician providing health services in GP settings including Aboriginal Medical Services and in hospital settings as a GP anaesthetist/emergency visiting medical officer and forensic sexual assault examiner.

Dr Wong’s involvement in the Charles Sturt University School of Rural Medicine includes a responsibility for the oversight and delivery of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health curriculum.

With a passion for rural medicine, Dr Wong’s focus is on improving the quality, access, continuity, and context of medical care to her people, particularly women and children.

Ms Gordon, Dr Keaney and Dr Wong commenced on 1 January 2023 and join existing board members deputy chair Terry Clout, Geoff Kettle, Ken Crofts, Margaret Lyons, Narelle Davis, Leanne Barnes and Duncan MacKinnon at an exciting time for SNSWLHD, with many positive developments underway.

“Together with my board colleagues, we are looking forward to continuing our journey towards Southern becoming the leading regional LHD in NSW,” Ms Hoskins said.

“I would like to congratulate our new board members on their appointment and thank them for their commitment to contribute to the board’s oversight of health services for our local communities now and into the future.”