As a leader within Victoria’s healthcare system, Christine Kilpatrick carries a reputation for building cultures of collaboration and excellence within the organisations she serves. Christine joined Melbourne Health as chief executive following her tenure as the chief executive at The Royal Children’s Hospital. She is one of six women on the VCCC Board.
The very nature of choosing to challenge is to consciously push the boundaries of what is currently in existence and practice. Healthcare, and particularly medicine, has typically been a traditional profession, one that has been practiced in much the same way for a century. But it is those who have consistently and persistently observed, questioned, and created opportunities that have allowed advances in medicine.
Think about the things we take for granted today like penicillin, anesthetic or chemotherapy, these advances came about because an individual knew there was another way. Women in medicine is another great example. The Royal Melbourne Hospital is Victoria’s first public hospital, opening in 1848, and it wasn’t until 1896 that two women pushed through extreme sexism and bias to become the first women to be appointed as doctors at the hospital.
Although the first 100 years were very much dominated by the contribution of male physicians and surgeons, the past 70 years have seen a significant contribution from women, not only in nursing but in medicine, science and research. The modern-day success of RMH owes much to women such as Professor Priscilla Kincaid Smith, Dr Margaret Henderson, Professor Judith Whitworth and Dr Berta Unger. These women not only were highly skilled and successful clinicians but they did so in an environment that was not particularly supportive of women.
In choosing to challenge and speak up for gender inequality we can call out bias, question stereotypes and promote a more inclusive workplace.
The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre was created on the principle that the more minds dedicated to working together, the faster we will find ways to reduce the impact of cancer in our community. We cannot achieve this without diversity in our thinking, and in our experience. Diversity supports us to challenge our beliefs and look at new systems and processes to find better cancer treatments and care for our patients and the community.
For me, leadership is about having a strong presence, supporting those around you in their decision making and leading by example, not asking them to do something you yourself would not do.
But there is no doubt that for those who are juggling family commitments with a demanding professional role it can be really difficult. I have always worked full-time, so childcare was a big part of our family’s life; and I took very little time off work when I had my children. My daughters, who now have children, frequently remind me of this. I always thought full-time work was what I should do, but I had very few role models to follow and I was very conscious of other people’s critical comments about this. However, I was fortunate to have a very supportive and encouraging husband. Balancing family and a career has always been challenging and in my view, always will be challenging. My advice to people is to do what works for you.
At the Royal Melbourne Hospital, we are committed to ensuring we have an inclusive workplace that puts people first, where we lead with kindness, achieving excellence together – and you cannot achieve this with inequality.
Our commitment extends to understanding gender inequality within our organisation and taking tangible actions to address inequities. Over the past five years the hospital has embedded the Speak Up for Safety program, and this includes any inappropriate behavior and inequities experienced by individuals. For young women at the beginning of their career, it can be destabilising to experience inequality in the workplace, and fear can play a large part in not being able to call it out. Increasingly there are a lot of networks available to support women in the workplace and I would encourage anyone beginning their career to connect with women who have done it before. I am also a strong believer in speaking up because if we don’t, we won’t be able to make a positive change for future generations.
To make any change you first have to recognise and acknowledge the disparity that exists. Making a positive change then becomes easier and collaborations between various organisations are more successful because you are working to the same goals. In 2020 we launched our first Reconciliation Action Plan, making our commitment to make the Royal Melbourne Hospital a great place to work, and a great place to receive care, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Our RAP commitment also acknowledges the effect of more than 200 years of dispossession, racism and discrimination, which has left Aboriginal peoples with unequal access to services and poorer health outcomes. The Royal Melbourne Hospital's Reconciliation journey is just beginning, and it is one of continual listening, learning and working together for a shared future.
If our response to the COVID-19 pandemic has taught me anything, it is that we don’t all need to be office-based to continue doing great work and that we can be more flexible in our approach to working. It sounds obvious but working traditional hours doesn’t mean better quality of work; and I think business is starting to recognise that achieving a better work-life balance is actually better for business, including healthcare.
We know that many working women are also the primary carer at home and I think we will see a rise in the number of employees looking at balancing their working week between the office and home, and the workplace supporting this approach.
Healthcare is a predominately female-led sector but in areas of leadership, we do tend to see more males at the higher end of the pay scale, similar to the corporate world. However, I think this gap is gradually narrowing and as we emerge into a new COVID world, our new ways of working will support the change needed to support more women in charge of their working week as well as in more areas of leadership.
