Ann Aitken

Ann has been a reg­is­tered nurse for more than 40 years. She worked in spe­cial­ist oncol­o­gy and pal­lia­tive care set­tings at the Roy­al Bris­bane Hos­pi­tal before mov­ing to the bush in the ear­ly 1990s. She has worked in rur­al and remote set­tings in north Queens­land since that time.

Ann is cur­rent­ly the Direc­tor of Nurs­ing, Mid­wifery and Facil­i­ty Man­ag­er at Ather­ton Hos­pi­tal, and in this role is the man­ag­er of five rur­al and remote sin­gle nurse clin­ics in the local health ser­vice. Ann is pas­sion­ate about rur­al and remote health, and a strong advo­cate for safe and qual­i­ty health ser­vices in these diverse areas of ser­vice pro­vi­sion. The suc­cess of any health ser­vice depends on the effec­tive­ness of the team, and Ann believes the safe­ty and appro­pri­ate prepa­ra­tion and devel­op­ment of the health care team is para­mount to that.

Ann com­plet­ed her PhD in 2016. Her the­sis explored the lived expe­ri­ence of rur­al and remote nurs­es work­ing in Queens­land who cared for peo­ple with can­cer who had died. Ann has a Mas­ters Degree in Rur­al and Remote Health, a Mas­ters Degree in Con­flict Man­age­ment and Res­o­lu­tion, and is an accred­it­ed medi­a­tor. She com­plet­ed her rur­al and iso­lat­ed nurs­ing endorse­ment in 2001 (RIPRN) and is an Immu­ni­sa­tion Pro­gram Nurse. Ann is a Fel­low of CRANAplus and a Fel­low of the Aus­tralian Col­lege of Nursing.

Ann ​“keeps her hand” in clin­i­cal prac­tice by work­ing for the local domi­cil­iary nurs­ing ser­vice on week­ends, where amongst oth­er things, she can indulge her love of pal­lia­tive care.