New Albury Wodonga Health chief executive Bill Appleby on advocacy, fresh hospital and being a change agent

In his first interview with The Border Mail since starting last week, Bill Appleby outlined his task in pursuing a fresh public hospital for Albury-Wodonga.

"I have a role to advocate on behalf of our community and on behalf of our hospital with the incumbent governments, three governments, in terms of NSW, Victoria and the federal government, but I'm extremely optimistic," Mr Appleby said.

"We have NSW and Victoria at the table in our planning control group meetings, so I'm extremely optimistic that our voices have been heard, the community's voices have been heard and we're working constructively to achieve the outcomes that we need to achieve."

Noting, wider sentiment and the community rally held in May calling for a new hospital, Mr Appleby said that goal was echoed.

"I think ultimately we're in furious agreement," he said.

"We all believe for the community, for people's safety, for best clinical practice and creating a centre of excellence is that we need one single site.

"Regardless of where you sit, I think we're all unanimous that's what's we need."

Mr Appleby expects a master plan, flagging options of building an entirely new hospital or adding to an existing campus, to be completed in two months and its guidance revealed.

"The master plan won't be made public, that's commercial in confidence, but certainly the recommendations and where we as an organisation want to go (will be)," he said.

The former nurse said, pending government funding, a fresh brownfields hospital would be built incrementally over a number of years while a greenfields hub "could be five to seven years away".

In the meantime, Mr Appleby acknowledged immediate demands on emergency departments and surgery waiting lists still needed to be met in an environment also coping with COVID.

He cited partnerships and buying capacity with private hospitals as potential remedies.

Mr Appleby said he "absolutely" expected the first sod to be turned on an upgrade of the Albury hospital emergency department by the end of July.

"Stage one is going to be finished by December next year which will increase our capacity significantly and then we'll go back and retrofit to a short-stay unit what is the existing ED," he said.

"That will be finished mid-24."

Mr Appleby said there would be some "minor interruptions" with patient movements and ambulance access during construction but patient safety would remain the "primary concern".

He said the casualty ward remained under pressure with an average of 200 presentations a day and a looming jump in COVID cases with new variants on the wing.

"We will see another peak in mid-August, so we're preparing for that and supporting our staff to be able to navigate that as best we possibly can," Mr Appleby said before adding another code yellow was not inevitable.

Vulnerable groups receiving a fourth COVID vaccine is one factor that would ease the hospital burden, which is being reflected in an upswing of patients reporting to emergency with significant complaints.

That is seen as a reflection of patients having avoided visiting their GP during COVID and having been forced to wait for elective surgery.

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Despite facing big challenges, Mr Appleby, 54, is enthusiastic, after having nursed in an infectious ward and led Jewish Care Victoria at different stages of a 36-year career in health.

"We're at a critical time and I think I'm a very good strategic fit because of the experience I bring," he said.

"I am a change agent.

"I have got significant experience in major capital developments, a really good clinical understanding, effective stakeholder management."

From a self-described impoverished past as one of six children in a Catholic family, Mr Appleby was inspired to become a nurse after two older sisters entered the field.

Asked how a Catholic came to head a Jewish body, Mr Appleby said: "I'm ecumenical, I've worked for the Catholics twice...I've worked for the Anglicans....some would say I've worked for the dark side, I've worked for the for-profit sector as well."

Such deftness should help as he seeks to deliver a new Albury-Wodonga hospital with different political midwives across three theatres of government.

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