15 March 2011
Media please note: a photo of Dr Greg Rickard is available on request
Department of Health Chief Executive Jeff Moffet has announced that the Northern Territory's Principal Nursing and Midwifery Adviser, Dr Greg Rickard, will step down from his position on 18 March 2011 after eight years with the Department.
Dr Rickard will move to Sydney to take up the position of Head of National and Key Accounts and Government Relations, HealthCare Australia, a key recruitment body for Australian and international health practitioners.
"I want to thank Greg Rickard for his many contributions to health care delivery in the Territory. It is with regret that we will soon bid him farewell. He has been a great advocate for nursing and midwifery standards and has done much to boost our success in recruiting and retaining key clinicians," Mr Moffet said.
A recent study showed that Territory nurses and midwives are more likely than ever before to keep working in the NT rather than pursue work opportunities elsewhere.
By 2011 the annual turnover rate for nursing staff had dropped to 17 per cent, down from 53 per cent six years ago. The NT employs almost 2000 full-time equivalent nurses who work in the Territory's five hospitals as well as in community health centres and remote health settings.
"These achievements are due in no small part to the efforts of Greg Rickard who has worked closely with our division of People and Services on national nursing recruitment campaigns focused on promoting the attractions of working and living in the NT," Mr Moffet said
Greg Rickard holds a Doctorate in Public Health, an Associate Professorship at Charles Darwin University and has been Co-Director of CDU's Graduate School for Health Practice where over 150 Department of Health staff are undertaking postgraduate studies whilst working in diverse fields, from Midwifery to Mental Health, and Intensive Care to Paediatrics.
In 2004, Dr Rickard established the annual Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Awards that celebrate the professions' contributions to health care delivery for Territorians. The presentation event is a highlight of the NT's health calendar.
For his role in advancing the Nursing and Midwifery Recruitment strategy Dr Rickard was awarded the 2010 Chief Minister's Prize for Strengthening Government and Policy Administration Category.
In 2009, he was Acting Director of Nursing at Royal Darwin Hospital for six months, and involved with the National Critical Care and Trauma Retrieval Centre response to the Ashmore Reef incident in April 2009. Later that year he helped manage the hospital's response to the H1N1 Influenza outbreak.
CE Jeff Moffet thanked Greg Rickard for his many achievements and wished him every success in his important new position in the health recruitment field.
Media Contact: Robin Osborne, Media Director, (08) 8999 2886 - 0488 692 781
