New Ambulance Tasmania chief executive Joe Acker vows to make workplace culture his priority
The new boss of Ambulance Tasmania has vowed to stamp out bullying, racism, sexism and harassment in the service, saying improving the agency’s culture is his immediate priority.
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THE new boss of Ambulance Tasmania has vowed to stamp out bullying, racism, sexism and harassment in the service, saying improving the agency’s culture is his immediate priority.
Joe Acker, who had been in the interim chief executive role for the past five months, was announced on Tuesday as having won the permanent role.
In a note to colleagues, seen by the Mercury, Mr Acker referenced many key focuses from the recent Coronial inquest over the death of paramedic Damian Crump.
“My first priority is to improve the culture of Ambulance Tasmania,’’ Mr Acker wrote.
“We heard testimony from current and former staff during the Damian Crump Coronial that there were serious incidents of sexism, bullying and harassment among staff in 2016.
“I recognise that the organisation has changed significantly since then with major investment that has more than doubled our staff and improved our leadership and support services.
“However, we must be a safe place for our staff and volunteers and there will be zero tolerance for bullying, racism, sexism, or harassment of any kind.
“I believe there are some individuals whose words and actions do not align with the values of our organisation.
“These behaviours are not acceptable, and I commit that they will be addressed.”
Mr Acker said Ambulance Tasmania had engaged a consultant to conduct a “resilience scan” of the agency to survey staff about their perceptions of workplace culture.
He also wrote that mental health and wellbeing, communication and improving clinical governance were among his top priorities.
Previous chief executive Matthew Eastham departed his role in February, leaving Tasmania for another chief executive position interstate.
In January, a data breach resulted in the personal details of every Tasmania who had called an ambulance since November last year being published online.
Then in March, the inquest into Mr Crump’s death heard an array of claims about the agency made by former and current staff including lax drug management, a toxic workplace culture and poor mental health structures.
Mr Crump died by suicide in 2016 after accessing drug stores at the Glenorchy ambulance facility, in accordance with a “suicide plan” he kept on his phone.
Findings and recommendations from the inquest are yet to be reported.
Mr Acker has more than 30 years’ experience in paramedic systems, health services and academia in Australia and Canada.
Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said before joining Ambulance Tasmania, Mr Acker held a managerial role for the British Columbia Health Services based in Vancouver.
Mr Rockliff said Mr Acker also had extensive experience leading large organisations in Edmonton, Alberta, and as general manager of a major helicopter medical retrieval service.
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