Royal Children’s Hospital board director makes shock exit
A Royal Children’s Hospital board director has abruptly resigned in a shock move as uncertainty swirls about the future of chief Bernadette McDonald.
Victoria
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A Royal Children’s Hospital board director has abruptly resigned amid the ongoing uncertainty over the future of respected CEO Bernadette McDonald.
The Herald Sun can reveal Jude Munro quit the board this week, a year before her term was due to end, in a surprise move that has shocked senior staff.
It is understood Ms Munro also emailed senior government and Department of Health officials to put on record her concerns about interference with the running of the hospital.
Multiple sources said those concerns related to a demand the hospital establish a search committee to find a potential replacement for Ms McDonald, whose contract is due to end in September.
It is understood the hospital’s board recommended the extension of Ms McDonald’s contract.
However hospital chair, Dr Rowena Coutts, wrote to staff on Tuesday to explain a committee would be set up to find a potential replacement.
She said the Department of Health had asked the RCH Board to establish a search committee for the future CEO position.
The move has prompted a grassroots campaign by senior doctors in an attempt to save Ms McDonald’s job.
Ms Munro was appointed to the hospital’s board in August 2022 for an initial three-year term.
She has decades of experience, including serving as the CEO of four councils: St Kilda, Moreland, Adelaide and Brisbane.
She was the inaugural chair of the Victorian Planning Authority, has been a director of various major companies and spent six years on a board that ran four hospitals in southeast Queensland.
She has been described as an “expert in public policy, planning and infrastructure,” with hospital sources saying her sudden resignation was a major loss for the hospital.
On her appointment to the hospital’s board Ms Munro said she had a lot to offer in relation to board governance.
“The RCH is at the pinnacle of hospital services for children and young people, not just to Victoria and broader Australia but to the whole Pacific region,” she said at the time.
“One of my ambitions is for RCH to continue being a global leader and maintain that position.
“The RCH is a place where parents and families can get the support they need, which is just tremendous as housing and health are among our most basic human needs.”
An RCH spokeswoman confirmed Ms Munro resigned from the board on Wednesday.
“The RCH would like to thank Jude for her service to the RCH Board and wish her all the best in her future endeavours,” she said.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said ongoing government mismanagement was threatening Victorian health services.
“Under Labor the crisis in health just gets worse with experienced and respected board members leaving in protest,” she said.
“Labor’s ongoing mismanagement is gutting our health services of experience. As a result, it will be Victorians paying the price.”
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