After a lengthy and rewarding consulting career with a number of first tier consulting organisations my priorities had shifted as I realised that helping others and making a difference were the motivators that were important to me. CHARK Consulting was established as the vehicle to take me into the next phase of my career. A phase that offers me the opportunity to select the consulting engagements that I find attractive in terms of intellectual challenge and where I believe I have the ability to help others and make a difference.
Since embarking on this phase of my career, I have consulted to a number of organisations in very different industries that were all looking to transform their ways of working, underpinned by significant changes to the way they use supporting technology. The roles I have performed through these transformational programmes of work have centred on a blend of organisational change management and program management disciplines. A brief summary of the most recent programmes and my role on them is provided below.
National Organ Matching Programme
The Australian Red Cross Blood Services have a contract with the Australian Government Organ Tissue Authority and their ‘Donate Life’ program to provide organ matching services locally and into the Pacific Region. National organ matching capabilities had grown from state based initiatives funded and operated on a state by state basis. The Organ Match program was tasked with building common processes centred on using a single national system for the matching of organ transplant candidates with donor organs.
My Role
An agile development programme was launched within the Organ Matching department of the Australian Red Cross Blood Services. I was brought on board as the Change Lead with a broad list of change management responsibilities together with support for the programme office and communication to internal and external stakeholder groups. Many challenges were addressed during the programme with my focus directed towards managing the expectations of different stakeholders with their varying needs and perspectives on what would be delivered, when it would be delivered and how it would be delivered.
In summary
OrganMatch wassuccessfully implemented in April 2019, and replaced the National Organ Matching System (NOMS), that had been in place since 1999. OrganMatch is a world class clinical transplant system that facilitates compatibility matching of recipients and donors for organ transplantation in Australia. Key functions delivered include:
- National waitlist management
- Kidney matching and allocation of deceased organ donors
- Australia and New Zealand Paired Kidney Exchange Program (ANZKX)
- Living donor organ transplants.
OrganMatch access is available to clinicians and transplant coordinators in Australia and New Zealand and to scientists from Australian Transplantation and Immunogenetics and Tissue Typing laboratories.
