Meet Barrie Hinton, Medical Directions Business Operations Manager
This week we catch up with Barrie Hinton, Business Operations Manager of The Ochre Groups' new medical workforce solutions division, Medical Directions. Medical Directions are highly experienced at delivering innovative and sustainable staffing solutions to healthcare services as well as providing fixed-term and permanent opportunities for doctors seeking work.
Welcome to The Ochre Group Barrie. It’s an exciting time for both our organisations. Tell us a little bit about your early years?
I grew up in Broken Hill and spent some childhood years in Port Hedland and Nhulunbuy. One of my favourite childhood memories is “going bush” with my mates on our push bikes.
Where did you study and what inspired you to pursue a career in healthcare?
I have a background in human resources management with experience in Health, Defence, Engineering, Automotive, Disability, Local Government, Manufacturing, and not-for-profit.
Over the years you have been successful at servicing the specific needs of both your clients and career aspirations of your doctors? How hard is this to achieve?
The secret to balancing the needs of clients and doctors is understanding their circumstances and partnering with them to find the sweet spot where all parties benefit. I am driven by a strong customer service ethos. For me and the rest of the Medical Directions team, the focus is on developing and maintaining relationships that last the distance. Establishing trust early on is paramount and lays a solid foundation on which to build on.
How do you seek out career opportunities for doctors that strike the right balance between work and family life?
The important starting point is understanding what the balance is. We all have different priorities and we apply our own “weighting” to each component of the work-life formula. We have re-invented a more sustainable pathway to achieving a healthier work/life balance, rewarding career in an inclusive culture.
Barrie Hinton, Business Operations Manager, Medical Directions
If you had some advice for the Australian Department of Health, what would it be?
Explore possibilities for more opportunities for overseas trained doctors to be engaged in the sector sooner. There are many overseas trained doctors in Australia who are not working in medicine, meanwhile, we have a doctor shortage.
What do you like doing when you are not working?
I have a weekly volunteering commitment with Vinnies, I also volunteer with some other organisations, I am the handyman for a group of elderly people (even though I am not handy), I train with a couple of running clubs, I watch a lot of sport (live & tv), I like live music, and my biggest commitment is my family which includes two teenage children.
If you had some words of wisdom for your 20-year-old self, what would they be?
It is better to be a good man than a successful one.
Thank you so much Barrie for talking with us and welcome to the team. We’re lucky to have you on board!
Click here for a look at some of the sites the Medical Directions team is currently working with.
If you would like to know more about how Medical Directions develop and operate innovative medical workforce service models, contact Barrie Hinton on 0412 774 817 or [email protected]
