KING’S Birthday honouree Associate Professor Rex Rais Prabhu perfects the small things to make the big things possible at Swan Hill District Health.
Professor Prabhu is one of 55 recipients of the Public Service Medal in this year’s King’s Birthday celebrations, for his work in transforming SHDH’s training and recruitment processes.
“I’m really honoured and privileged to receive this King’s honour,” Professor Prabhu said.
“It’s not just a testament to me – the team that surrounds me makes me strive to deliver better services for the community and better experience for the staff who work in our facility and our organisation.
“Sometimes things can be heavy, especially with the complexity of care, but at the end of the day when they work as a team they look after each other, and that’s what I’m here for: to look after them so they are at their best when they are delivering healthcare,” he said.
Professor Prabhu said as soon as he started as medical administrator at SHDH in 2018, he knew he had his work cut out for him, with a workforce consisting of two supervisors and a handful of travelling doctors.
From his experience moving his young family to Swan Hill, he knew not only how difficult a process it was to do alone but also how great the community he had joined was.
The innovations he has implemented – onsite programs that allow undergraduates and fellows to complete their training in one location, providing opportunities for staff to pursue professional development locally, and developing partnerships with other regional health services to share knowledge and skills – create a culture of excellence as well as offer incentives to experienced medical professionals to move to Swan Hill.
Professor Prabhu said the small things mattered, too, in fostering a thriving staff.
“The CEO called me up the day before the interview [with SHDH] and said ‘You might be tired after driving up from Melbourne so why don’t we push the interview to later in the day’ and I thought ‘Oh, this guy is quite considerate’.
“It’s the smallest things that matter.
“It comes down to [staff’s] experience.
“I knew a lot of my doctors were struggling to find a house for nearly six months so we had to intervene: connect them with the real estate agencies, connect them with the daycare facilities.
“We try to advocate for them as much as possible.”
While there are always setbacks on the path he is forging for sustainable medical care, Professor Prabhu has more projects in the works, including local clinical research opportunities and utilising the new Emergency Department, and he says he is excited to keep pushing forward with his staff.
“There’s still more to be done in Swan Hill – we’ve just finished the first phase of the hospital development with the ED,” he said.
“I’m really looking forward to delivering services from the new building.
“I think it’s a testament that my staff do so well with the limited infrastructure we have, but within that infrastructure they’ve managed to deliver such a fantastic service to the community.”
The PSM is awarded to government employees for ‘outstanding service’ in their field.
Professor Prabhu supports his staff so they can help the community and in doing so has created a consistent supply of quality healthcare in the community.
“I would like to congratulate all those recognised in [this year’s] Honours list,” Governor-General David Hurley AC DSC (Retd) said.
“Some names are well-known but the vast majority are not – they are people who work tirelessly and selflessly to make a difference in our community.”
