Turning ideas into lasting change: Meet Tony Stavrou

Tony Stavrou is a Project Man­ag­er who has been part of the CEIH since it began. 

He’s cur­rent­ly sup­port­ing the Clin­i­cal Reg­istries Pri­or­i­ty Focus Area project and Chron­ic Pain, Renal and Trau­ma Statewide Clin­i­cal Networks.

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

I’m a Project Man­ag­er at the Com­mis­sion on Excel­lence and Inno­va­tion in Health (CEIH). My work focus­es on lead­ing statewide health improve­ment ini­tia­tives that bring togeth­er clin­i­cians, con­sumers, researchers and health ser­vices to improve out­comes for South Aus­tralians. Cur­rent­ly, I’m work­ing on sev­er­al projects, includ­ing the Clin­i­cal Reg­istries Pro­gram and help­ing Ade­laide Uni­ver­si­ty to estab­lish a new tele­health pain phys­io­ther­a­py ser­vice using dig­i­tal path­ways. I’m also a net­work advis­er to the Chron­ic Pain, Renal and Trau­ma Statewide Clin­i­cal Networks.

A key part of my role is help­ing turn good ideas into prac­ti­cal, sus­tain­able improve­ments that can be embed­ded across the health system.

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

I have been at the CEIH from the very begin­ning, help­ing the then Com­mis­sion­er, Pro­fes­sor Pad­dy Phillips design and build the CEIH into SA’s health inno­va­tion agency. The CEIH has a unique abil­i­ty to bring togeth­er peo­ple from dif­fer­ent dis­ci­plines and organ­i­sa­tions to solve com­plex chal­lenges. What keeps me moti­vat­ed is know­ing the work we do can improve expe­ri­ences and out­comes for patients, fam­i­lies and clin­i­cians across South Australia.

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

I’m proud of being part of the part­ner­ship between the CEIH, the Women’s and Children’s Health Net­work and the Cen­tral Ade­laide Local Health Net­work to estab­lish an online path­way and online con­sent for genet­ic screen­ing. The project was recog­nised by win­ning the Minister’s Inno­va­tion Award at the SA Health Awards.

I’m also look­ing for­ward to con­tribut­ing to the devel­op­ment of the Clin­i­cal Reg­istries project. Clin­i­cal reg­istries pro­vide valu­able data that sup­ports qual­i­ty improve­ment, informs deci­sion-mak­ing and helps dri­ve bet­ter patient out­comes. Being involved in work that strength­ens how we use data and evi­dence to improve health­care deliv­ery is incred­i­bly rewarding.

4. What’s one book, pod­cast, or resource that’s influ­enced your think­ing lately?

I try to draw knowl­edge and ideas from a large range of resources; how­ev­er, it’s our peo­ple that have influ­enced my think­ing the most. I have been lucky enough to work close­ly with some amaz­ing peo­ple includ­ing clin­i­cal lead­ers such as the Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work leads and oth­er bril­liant clin­i­cians and oth­ers with­in the net­works I have supported.

5. If you could solve one prob­lem in your field (or the world), what would it be?

I’d love to solve the chal­lenge of ensur­ing every­one has equi­table access to high-qual­i­ty health­care, regard­less of where they live, their back­ground or their cir­cum­stances. We have incred­i­ble clin­i­cal exper­tise and inno­va­tion across the sys­tem, but there is still work to do to make sure those ben­e­fits reach every­one who needs them.

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

The beach is my recharge place, I joke that I am solar pow­ered, so time in the sun at the beach is where I want to be. Just chill­ing at home hav­ing a laugh with the fam­i­ly is a close second.