Scarred by the Hunter New England SDPR rollout, it looks like NSW Health is going to pause for breath, think on what’s been learned and adjust the plan based on what this messy first go has taught everyone. It’s a good sign
NSW Health isn’t exactly a font of transparent information, especially where this publication is concerned.
But talking to a few people in the know on background suggests that post Teresa Anderson, and what has proven a very difficult experience for staff in the Hunter New England rollout, the SDPRIA is going to pause for a bit to reflect on the lessons learnt, and potentially reset the original plans in a few ways.
Whether that means that more than the Northern NSW LHD rollout is delayed further, as reported last Friday, is not known but it seems likely that some more will be or that there might be even more substantial changes to the original rollout plan.
NNSW LHD’s chief executive Tracey Maisey told staff last week that after a review of the LHD’s implementation plan, “we have determined that it is no longer appropriate” for the District “to continue the local SDPR preparation activities at the current pace”.
Originally, Northern NSW LHD was part of Tranche B of the statewide SDPR rollout, due to go live in November, along with Mid North Coast, Northern Sydney, Central Coast, and the rest of the Laboratory Information Management System North network.
In August, after continuing concerns over staff wellbeing and readiness of targeted LHDs, the SDPR Implementation Authority announced the Tranche B implementation would change to a “staged rollout” beginning with just Northern Beaches Hospital – administered by Northern Sydney LHD.
Mid North Coast, NNSW, Central Coast and the rest of the NS LHD network were, at the time, postponed until March of 2027.
The other thing that feels likely is that interim SDPRIA CEO Wendy Hoey, who was seconded from Justice Health to run the program following the sudden departure of Dr Anderson, will be the ongoing project head.
She spoke earlier today to the HIMAA 2026 conference in Sydney and reaffirmed that the Northern Beaches rollout would still be hitting its target of 25 November, but offstage told HSD that the organisation was in review mode and taking stock of all the lessons learned so far.
There’s a lot to think about and Ms Hoey is clearly hard at work thinking, although, citing the degree of difficulty in such a big transformation project, she had nothing but praise for the work of her predecessor and her new boss, Susan Pearce, the NSW Secretary of Health, who is due to retire next March.
The only two things Ms Hoey let go were that there was a form of a pause on to think and reflect – which might or might not be just NNSW LHD, but you suspect it’s more – and that of what she’s learned so far the project needed to contemplate planning in shorter timeframes (she mentioned 12 months) given how much change was afoot.
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All of that, as little as she let go, and that Ms Hoey is quite well known to be big on good culture in her organisational leadership and has taken the interim role with a great reputation as a doer, should contribute significantly to helping quell disquiet among the ground troops deploying now and set to deploy next year.
Time will tell. It’s just, how much time will she get?
Ms Pearce departing next March might be the circuit-breaker Ms Hoey needs to calmly go about a review and reset.
NSW health minister Ryan Park, who by all reports is a pretty good operator, is very lucky that the Hunter New England mess didn’t spill out into the consumer media.
Given all the moving parts here, Mr Park would be putting a lot at risk by not keeping Ms Hoey at the top of this project moving forward.
Ms Hoey is acting like she wants the job: she’s immersed.
All of that would bode well for NSW Health staff waiting down the line to get the nod on deployment, and listening to the horror stories that leaked to the trade media, and the NSW Health system as a whole.