Albury Wodonga Health Chair Jonathan Green to Depart Amid Executive Exodus

An exodus of senior executives is continuing at the embattled Albury Wodonga Health (AWH) with the chair of the board being the latest to announce his departure.

Jonathan Green had been chair of the AWH board since July 2023, and announced on Thursday that he would not seek reappointment when his term ends next month

His departure follows the resignation of chief executive Bill Appleby in March, along with two other executives who left as part of a restructure to merge the Finance, and People and Culture teams.

AWH has been in turmoil over its unpopular $558 million redevelopment, with many residents and clinicians arguing that the current plans would not meet the needs of the community.

Tensions within the health service have also seen senior medical staff stood down and subsequently reinstated.

In March, 120 members of the AWH Senior Medical Staff Association and Border Medical Association passed a motion of no confidence in AWH's executive leadership on the grounds of ongoing concerns about governance, transparency and decision-making.

The group also raised concerns about the wellbeing of staff, psychological safety and patient safety.

Responding to news of Mr Green's imminent departure, Better Border Health director Stan Savros said it "had to happen".

"There's been two votes of no confidence," he said.

Mr Savros said Mr Green should have spent more time listening to medical staff.

"So I think it was inevitable that Jonathan had to go."

'Clearly there were problems'

Upper house Greens MLC Amanda Cohn has worked as a doctor in the Border region and agreed with Mr Stavros.

"I think the exodus of senior executives from Albury Wodonga Health shows that clearly there were problems at that level," she said.

"More importantly, this is a fresh chapter for the organisation.

But Dr Cohn said change would take time.

"It takes a long time to undo some of the damage that was done and to shift the culture of the organisation," she said.

"There's still the huge question of the inadequate hospital redevelopment hanging over the organisation as well, so I think it'll be a fair bit of work for new people coming in to turn that around."

Mr Stavros said staff have welcomed the recent departures of members of the executive, but more needed to be done.

"The noise we're getting from people who work within the hospital, and certainly the messages we're getting from not just people who work in the hospital [but] from volunteers at the hospital, has been, 'At last, at last this has happened,'" he said.

"But we'll just wait and see on that, and I just hope there's a bit more change."

'Changing the place'

Mr Stavros praised AWH interim CEO Professor Andrew Way for his work to reinstate "well-respected" clinicians at the hospital.

"Hopefully there's more reinstatements to come, but it seems like he's changing the place, which is really what we want to see happen," he said.

"We want our health service back and in good hands, and I believe he's taking the right steps in relation to that."

Mr Stavros said it was not too late to pursue the option of building a new hospital on a greenfield site.

He said upgrades made to the existing hospital could be repurposed for a "much needed clinical space".

Dr Cohn said the border region had long been neglected by both Victorian and NSW governments — partly due to it's longstanding "safe seat" status — which was redefined at the Farrer by-election.

NSW Health said AWH and the Victorian Department of Health were responsible for daily operations of the service.

A spokesperson for the Victorian Government thanked Mr Green for his leadership and service to the local community.

They said the government continued to support AWH to build a better, more inclusive staff culture.