Dr Liz Rushbrook reflects on a decade at Metro North during her last week as CMO

Metro North Health farewells Dr Liz Rushbrook.

It’s not every day that you meet someone with a CV as impressive as Dr Liz Rushbrook, Metro North’s Chief Medical Officer as well as go-to-guru for all things emergency management.

In addition to supporting our medical workforce and paving the way for innovative service models including the Virtual Ward and Virtual Emergency Care Service, the Patient Access Coordination Hub (PACH) and our Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) service – Dr Rushbrook has also seen Metro North through many emergencies, always with style and grace.

Liz was at the helm of our response to the first global pandemic in 100 years as our COVID-19 Incident Controller, as well as the largest flooding event since 2011 and the first South-East Queensland cyclone in almost 50 years.

As Liz prepares to retire from her Chief Medical Officer role at Metro North this week, she reflects on a decade at Metro North and never shying away from a challenge.

“There have been so many unique moments, from creating information for the first plane load of people quarantining after travel to Wuhan province, China, to teaching people that ‘physical distancing’ of 1.5m is the length of a pool noodle,” Liz says, who famously delivered an unplanned COVID-19 all-staff video update from the hairdresser at the peak of the pandemic.

“COVID really changed the ways we looked at things, some people thought I was mad when talking about doing drive through testing, but it really changed our ability to do virtual and at home care for the better.”

Dr Rushbrook has been instrumental in setting up virtual services and adapting the way Metro North Health provides care remotely and in unique ways to better support our patients.

While she is ready for a much-deserved break, she is not saying goodbye to Metro North Health entirely, admitting people may still see her around from time to time.

“I would really like to remain connected to Metro North Health,” she said.

“Perhaps through support to Disaster Response, Acute Capacity Management and Olympics preparedness.”

We congratulate Dr Rushbrook on an outstanding career and thank her for her service as she embarks on this next chapter.