Media Releases

Media enquiries should be directed to:

The Executive Office
St John of God Hospital, Burwood
Telephone: (02) 9747 5611

2 July 2007

The Australian health services of St John of God Health Care and the psychiatric hospitals at Burwood and Richmond operated by the Hospitaller Order of St John of God have merged.

St John of God Health Care, Australia's largest Catholic not for profit private health care group, assumed operational responsibility for the two hospitals, as well as the Order's Sydney outreach service for homeless people with mental health problems, Casa Venegas, on 1 July 2007.

St John of God Health Care now employs 8,000 people, working across 14 hospitals (with approximately 2,000 beds), a community hospice, pathology services and a wide range of social outreach activities in Australia, New Zealand, and the wider Asia-Pacific region.

The services in New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand that have joined St John of God Health Care are:

• St John of God Health Services in Sydney, comprising two private psychiatric hospitals - at  Burwood and Richmond - and Casa Venegas, a Sydney based outreach service for homeless people with mental health problems.
• St John of God Services Victoria, a major disability service providing day, accommodation, respite, employment and outreach services supporting over 500 people with disabilities from 38 locations across metropolitan Melbourne.
• St John of God Health & Disabilities Services Trust, in Christchurch, New Zealand - which has 51 hospital beds and 10 community beds and provides residential and transitional care services for people under the age of 65 with acquired brain injuries and physical and neurological disabilities.
• St John of God Waipuna Youth & Community Services Trust, also in Christchurch, which is a social service agency providing young people (aged 14-25), and parents and mums under 25, and their families with support and opportunities.

The General Manager, New South Wales' Services, Ramon del Carmen, said that in terms of each of the services it was business as usual. "With the important addition that St John of God Health Care is committed to expanding and developing services to ensure they remain at the forefront of service quality and continue to meet community health care needs," he said.

St John of God Health Care's Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr Michael Stanford, said the group was honoured to welcome the services, which were highly regarded, into the St John of God Health Care group.

"The merger is consistent with our broader strategy of supporting the Catholic sector to remain vital and vibrant, as well as growing our psychiatric services and social outreach activities. It is an inspiring example of Catholic health sector groups collaborating to ensure the sustainability of much needed and valued services in the interests of the community," he said.

"We believe that our common goals and our commitment to working together to bring unity and strength to all services will bring current and future benefits to the patients, clients and communities we serve throughout Australia, New Zealand and our broader region."

9 May 2008

A dream of so many women, to have flexible working conditions, has been turned into reality by the local St John of God Hospital in Burwood which has also picked up a national award for its efforts.

For the seventh consecutive year, St John of God Health Care, which includes the Burwood hospital, has been named an Employer of Choice for Women by the Australian Government's Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA).

Mr Ramon del Carmen, Executive Director, NSW Services, St John of God Health Care said the Award was in recognition of the group's policies and initiatives supporting its predominantly female staff.

"More than 80% of our workforce is female, with women occupying 89% of the part- time workforce and 53% of all managerial positions," said Mr del Carmen.
 
While flexible working options may be a pipe dream to many women, St John of God Hospital provides staff with job sharing, part-time work, purchased leave, deferred salary, compressed time, remote access and phased retirement.

"Assisting women to balance their personal and professional requirements is vital if we want to continue to attract and retain quality staff, especially when we face global shortages of nurses and other healthcare professionals," said Mr del Carmen.

This year, EOWA set several new criteria, including that organisations achieve a pay equity gap of less than 17%, which is the ABS recorded Australia-wide gap.

St John of God Health Care has achieved a pay equity gap of 10% over all staff across the group.

"Anyone who has been in hospital would agree that good staff make a world of difference and we want to ensure our patients continue to experience that difference," he said.

St John of God Health Care's services in New South Wales comprise hospitals in Burwood and Richmond as well as Casa Venegas which provides accommodation in Strathfield for homeless people with mental health problems.