The twenty-first century face of senior health executives

Abstract

Purpose: The public health sector in the State of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, commenced a major restructure of the roles of senior health executives (SHEs) in 1989/1990. This study sought to investigate the demography, the roles and responsibilities of the SHEs within the NSW Health Department post-1990. Methods: A postal questionnaire was administered to those employed as SHEs in NSW between 1990 and 1999 (accessible population 71, N= 29). Findings: Data from the postal questionnaire found SHEs spent most of their time providing leadership, engaging in planning, liaising with external bodies, and monitoring and evaluating services and performance. A large proportion of SHEs had a tertiary qualification and felt that, in many cases, serendipitous events had contributed to their achieving senior positions. Originality: This is the first study since the restructuring of the NSW public health sector in 1989/1990 examining the changing roles of SHEs. The findings of the study provide a foundation for further work with a focus on developing educational programmes to enable the performance of the roles required of health care managers in the twenty-first century. This paper builds on previous publications that addressed the literature and qualitative aspects of the study.