Bringing clinicians and systems together to improve care: meet Heather Baron

Heather Baron is the Net­works Pro­gram Direc­tor at the CEIH, lead­ing Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­works that bring clin­i­cians, con­sumers and experts togeth­er to improve health outcomes.

She is cur­rent­ly over­see­ing the roll­out of a revised net­work mod­el, with a focus on pri­or­i­ty areas includ­ing sep­sis improve­ment, clin­i­cal reg­istries and rheumat­ic fever.

1. What is your role and what are you work­ing on currently?

I’m the Net­works Pro­gram Direc­tor at the CEIH. In this role, I lead the deliv­ery of our Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­works, bring­ing togeth­er clin­i­cians, con­sumers and sub­ject mat­ter experts to col­lab­o­rate, pro­vide clin­i­cal lead­er­ship and dri­ve improve­ments in health out­comes across the system.

Cur­rent­ly, I am work­ing with the team to imple­ment a revised clin­i­cal net­work mod­el fol­low­ing a review in 2025. This has includ­ed expand­ing the num­ber of net­works host­ed by the CEIH and focus­ing our project resources on three pri­or­i­ty areas: sep­sis improve­ment, clin­i­cal reg­istries and rheumat­ic fever.

2. What drew you to work­ing at the CEIH and what keeps you motivated?

I was drawn to the CEIH by the oppor­tu­ni­ty to work across a broad range of sys­tem-wide issues and con­tribute to improve­ments in health­care. The Commission’s role in bring­ing peo­ple togeth­er to col­lab­o­rate, inno­vate and improve health out­comes appealed to me.

What con­tin­ues to moti­vate me is the abil­i­ty to work with tal­ent­ed col­leagues who are com­mit­ted to improv­ing care for South Aus­tralians, and to see the tan­gi­ble impact of that work across the system.

3. What’s one project or achieve­ment you’re proud of?

Com­plet­ing the review of the clin­i­cal net­work mod­el and pro­gress­ing its imple­men­ta­tion is an achieve­ment I am pleased to be lead­ing with my team. This has involved con­sul­ta­tion with a range of stake­hold­ers and a strong focus on align­ing our net­works and project resources to areas of great­est sys­tem need.

4. What book, pod­cast, or resource has influ­enced your think­ing lately?

I tend to alter­nate between read­ing fic­tion and non-fic­tion. At the moment I am read­ing ​‘Game of Thrones’ – not a genre I would usu­al­ly choose, but I’ve real­ly enjoyed the way the sto­ry is told through dif­fer­ent char­ac­ter per­spec­tives and its pseu­do-medieval style.

On the non-fic­tion side, I’ve focused late­ly on women’s health. It’s good to see grow­ing aware­ness, research and dis­cus­sion around the impact of hor­mon­al changes across dif­fer­ent life stages and the impor­tance of recog­nis­ing, val­i­dat­ing and address­ing these in healthcare.

5. If you could solve one prob­lem in the world, what would it be?

The safe­ty and well­be­ing of chil­dren. Every child deserves to grow up in a safe, nur­tur­ing envi­ron­ment where their phys­i­cal, emo­tion­al and psy­cho­log­i­cal needs are met so they can thrive.

For too many chil­dren this is unfor­tu­nate­ly not their real­i­ty. While there are great ser­vices that sup­port fam­i­lies, I believe we need to strength­en pri­ma­ry pre­ven­tion, keep fam­i­lies togeth­er where pos­si­ble, and invest in com­mu­ni­ty-based solutions.

6. How do you recharge? What helps you main­tain your own wellbeing?

Going to the gym pro­vides me with a great switch off from work, and I enjoy going for walks and rid­ing my bike. Spend­ing time with fam­i­ly and friends, tak­ing short breaks, lis­ten­ing to music and read­ing, all help me recharge, keep some bal­ance and main­tain my wellbeing.