Terry Clout

Bachelor of Arts - 1983

Terry CloutWhen Terry Clout first enrolled at the University of Wollongong in 1972 he could hardly have imagined that one day he would be running an organisation with a $2 billion annual operating budget AND working closely with his old university to deliver major health outcomes for the region.

As South East Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service (SESIH) chief executive officer, Terry is responsible for 21 health facilities including some of the state’s biggest hospitals, and close to 20,000 staff.

He is also working with UOW’s Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences and Graduate School of Medicine (GSM) on a range of health collaborations. These include clinical placements for medical students at the region’s hospitals and major research collaborations with UOW’s new health and medical research hub.

“Working so closely (with UOW) on major health initiatives that will benefit the community is a dream come true,” says Terry, who also worked in administration at UOW for six years. “We’re working together in a range of health and physical science areas … the medical school, nursing and allied health, obesity treatment, dealing with an ageing population, health management … we’ve got the spectrum covered.

“I always proudly declare my University of Wollongong background … but I’d never have imagined the way things would turn out.

“When I first enrolled (at UOW) there were only 1000 students, and 700 of them were studying part-time. The university has certainly come a long way since those days. It’s a very different place, and what has been achieved there is fantastic.”

Terry has also come a long way since he enrolled on a teaching scholarship in 1972, three years before the then University College gained its independence from the University of NSW. However, it was to be a false start. “I decided I didn’t want to be a teacher after all, so I had to leave university because I couldn’t afford to continue without my scholarship” he says.

(However, it was not an entirely wasted time, as he did meet his wife Jenny, a science student, and they married in 1976).

He joined the ABC in Sydney as a human resources trainee in the personnel department, and worked there for four years before returning to Wollongong, where he joined UOW as an industrial officer in 1978. He worked for UOW until 1984, completing a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Australian social history along the way.

But Terry’s dream was to work in health administration, and in 1984 he accepted a position as a senior industrial officer at the NSW Department of Health in Sydney.

He’s been with the department ever since, rising steadily through the ranks. In 1986 he helped plan and implement the Area Health Service structure across NSW.

This was followed by a role as a departmental troubleshooter before he became corporate services director at the South Western Sydney Area Health Service and then general manager of Camden and Campbelltown Hospitals in 1991.

In 1996 Terry was appointed deputy chief executive officer at the Illawarra Area Health Service before taking on the chief executive’s role on the Mid North Coast Area Health Service from 2000-2004. With amalgamations of area health services, Terry was appointed to run Hunter/New England in 2004.

He returned home to the SESIAH job in October last year, after his predecessor Professor Debora Piconi was promoted to Director-General of the Department of Health.

Terry says he wanted to work in health administration because it was an area where it was possible to make a difference. “It’s an intense job, because health is a political hot potato and tough real life and death decisions get made each day. But I still love working in health and am passionate about what I do,” he says.

Last reviewed: 23 December, 2008