Starting her career as a front-line social worker before taking up her first executive role with the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service, Anne Cross has long had an interest in health and the wellbeing of people and communities. Now, as CEO of UnitingCare Queensland, Anne is able to harness that same passion and create a real impact in the areas of aged care, health, disability, and families and children.
UnitingCare Queensland, through its service groups Blue Care, UnitingCare Health, UnitingCare Community, and ARRCS [Australian Regional and Remote Community Services Ltd], is part of the social and economic fabric of hundreds of communities in Queensland and the Northern Territory. Knowing the stories of the organisation is critical. Genuine interest in what is happening for clients and patients and our staff and volunteers as they do their work is an imperative. Connecting these stories with strategy and the strategic environment is essential work for a leader in an organisation such as UnitingCare Queensland.
UnitingCare Health has partnered with the Commonwealth Government to construct Australia’s first fully integrated digital hospital. In June 2012, we signed a contract with the government securing a grant of $47 million, which is about half the cost of construction and development for both the hospital and the integrated e-health solution. Its been an extraordinarily complex and exciting project, including extensive redesign of how our clinicians and staff go about their work. UnitingCare Health assembled a great team of people to lead and undertake that work in conjunction with our partners.