Previously the Deputy Chief Public Health Officer and Deputy Chief Medical Officer at SA Health, Dr Kirkpatrick commenced at SA Health in the Department for Health and Wellbeing in March 2020 and led the COVID-19 community response during the pandemic.

She was also appointed as the Executive Director of Community and Primary Care partnerships and spent two and a half years leading the COVID-19 primary care, quarantine and community response. During this time, Dr Kirkpatrick oversaw a virtual primary care team of more than 160 personnel including doctors, nurses and allied health professionals.

In addition, she has more than a decade of experience working in primary care, public health and health advocacy, including focussing on preventative health while practising as a General Practitioner in Adelaide.

“I am excited to expand my career within the private sector and foster stronger cross-sector partnerships that add value to the patient experience and deliver evidence-based care in the right place at the right time,” said Dr Kirkpatrick.

CMJV General Manager Sarah McRae said she was thrilled with the appointment which will further strengthen the joint venture.

“Dr Kirkpatrick brings a wealth of experience and expertise, and she is passionate about supporting the sustainability of the health system through the delivery of innovative models of care that respond to how patients want their healthcare delivered,” said Ms McRae.

“We have always been committed to providing the community with world leading clinical care. Dr Kirkpatrick is one of the country’s most respected clinicians, and a medical leader both in South Australia and across the nation, who will apply her knowledge to support the growth of the joint venture.”

The Calvary-Medibank Joint Venture was formed in 2020 to solve key challenges in the health system in terms of patient access, quality of care and overall system cost. Our approach is to partner with health jurisdictions, codesigning solutions to solve problems and bring scale and expertise to deliver new services in short timeframes. Calvary has been delivering healthcare including hospital level care for over 135 years; Medibank is a specialist in telehealth services delivering c. 3.5million virtual health interactions in FY22.

The Joint Venture’s first initiative was the establishment of the South Australia My Home Hospital program, bringing together stronger medical governance and technology solutions to provide acute hospital in the home services for the people of South Australia. Throughout the COVID pandemic, our expertise was leveraged to deliver COVID Care at Home to the people of Western Australia, Queensland, Western Sydney, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Murrumbidgee and Western Melbourne.