Melbourne Health Website - 2007 Melbourne Health Chief Executive wins top Victorian business award

Linda Sorrell, Chief Executive of Melbourne Health, today was declared the winner of the prestigious 2007 Telstra Victorian Business Woman of the Year Award. She also won the IBM Community and Government Award.

Ms Sorrell, who has been Melbourne Health’s Chief Executive since April, won the award in the face of stiff competition from six other candidates.

The award is the latest achievement in the career of Ms Sorrell who has acquired a reputation as an effective trouble-shooter in the Australian health services sector.

On being named the winner of this award, Ms Sorrell declared her intention to use the achievement to promote and raise awareness of the public health system.

“I passionately believe in what I do, I believe that all people should have access to the best possible health care and that this should not be dependent on financial circumstances, cultural background or complexity of illness,” Ms Sorrell said.

“The more people that I can reach to talk with about what public health achieves and offers, the greater will be the appreciation for and understanding of our public health system,” she said.

A hands-on operator who has proved her mettle by reversing the financial fortunes of several health care services in Australia, Ms Sorrell is just six months into her latest, possibly most challenging, assignment – restoring the finances of Melbourne Health, the provider responsible for one of Australia’s leading hospitals, The Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Fresh from her role as Chief Executive of Southern Health where she engineered a $16.5 million deficit into surplus in just three years, Ms Sorrell has set herself the daunting task of transforming Melbourne Health’s financial position – in three years.

She attributes the reaching of these significant milestones largely to her ability to quickly grasp the fundamentals – and to get her executive teams behind her by setting and maintaining high standards for herself.

“My ability to quickly understand an organisation and its people has allowed me to introduce change and provide tangible benefits without alienating people or disrupting services.

“Building strong and united executive teams with a willingness to interact and communicate with front-line staff is a strength I value in myself and one that I believe adds value to the organisation as a whole.”