Registered nurse Douglas Bellamy took over as acting Walcha MPS manager for Hunter New England Health (HNEH) On January 8, 2018, and was formally appointed at the end of June.

The complexity and diversity and the size of the role are what impressed Mr Bellamy the most.

“The (HNEH) country team has been incredibly supportive to help me get used to working in a small facility rurally,” he said.

“Rural facilities are very different from what I’ve been used to. In Walcha, you’ve got your emergency department, the nine acute care beds and 15 residents who are living here 365 days a year, and a community health service. So it's a big complex service in terms of what you have to get your head around even though the numbers look small.”

Mr Bellamy started with the Calvary Mater Newcastle public hospital in Waratah in 1988.

The facility is the major cancer care centre for the HNEH Local Health District, delivering more than 320,000 occasions of outpatient services and in excess of 16,000 inpatient treatments per year.

“I worked in many areas of cancer care including radiotherapy, x-ray and nuclear medicine nursing; managing the out patient’s services and clinics; and outpatient accommodation,” Mr Bellamy said.

“Then I moved into management  before taking on a district role for HNEH with the cancer network, and that’s when I started to get a taste for the work the rural teams do - it's just amazing.”

Mr Bellamy now lives in Walcha while his family has remained in Newcastle where his three teenage children go to school.

“I was keen to take on a rural role, and I think I’ve been incredibly lucky falling into the Walcha job and becoming part of the community - it has been very welcoming,” he said.

“It's brilliant. The staff here are outstanding, and we have a wonderful visiting GP and a lovely community. 

“I’ve been overwhelmed actually because there are groups like the hospital auxiliary that raise money to buy things for people coming to the hospital and the generosity is just amazing. Previously I worked with the nuns to raise money, but you can’t really compare that because the nuns have a calling.”

As well as taking on the demanding Walcha MPS job, Mr Bellamy is currently completing his third year of a six-year PhD.

“I am looking at the work that people with cancer, who are aged 65 years and over, have to do to manage their cancer at home,” he said. 

“We focus on people when they are in the system, but we don't understand how much they have to take on when they leave to go home.”

Mr Bellamy is a health industry pioneer in his family.

“My father is a fitter and mechanic, and he was pushing me towards working in the metal industry,” he said.

“I went to an all-boys school, and in Year 10 we had someone come to speak with us about a career in nursing. There were three of us who thought that sounded interesting and we all became nurses in a lifelong career.

“Dad was a bit shocked, but he has come to be reasonably proud of what I’ve been doing.”

Next year Mr Bellamy is focusing on safety at the facility and creating a best in breed operation.

“I want to have a welcoming environment,” he said.

“I say to the staff all the time. I want you to feel safe, I want you to feel valued, and I want you to get satisfaction from the work that you do.

“What I’d really like to see in the future is whenever we have students or school-based trainees come through, and they go out into the big-wide-world to get a job they say they came from Walcha MPS and we are recognised as a place that teaches excellence.”