Canberra Health Services chief executive Bernadette McDonald has resigned, saying she's leaving the ACT to return to her family in Melbourne.
Ms McDonald started overseeing Canberra's publicly run health services, including Canberra Hospital, in October 2018.
She walked into an organisation with deep cultural issues and significant performance problems, but one of her biggest challenges was yet to come with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday morning, Ms McDonald sent an email to all staff at the organisation announcing it was with "a heavy heart" that she'd decided to resign.
She said while there was more she wanted to achieve, now was "the right time for me to choose to return to my family in Melbourne".
"As many of you would know, the past year has been particularly tough for me, not only dealing with the uncertainty and anxiety of the pandemic, but also having to spend large periods of time apart from my husband and children," Ms McDonald said.
"At one stage we were apart for eight months due to travel restrictions and my work in a high-risk setting."
Ms McDonald spoke to The Canberra Timesin March this year ahead of the anniversary of the ACT's first Covid case, and described the experience of not seeing her family for such a long time as "pretty isolating" and "soul-destroying".
She talked about having to watch her family in lockdown from a distance, while her "whole focus" was in Canberra.
"So, you know, there were times where you think, it would just be really easy to pack up and go home," Ms McDonald said.
"But I hung in there and we got through it."
In the email on Monday, Ms McDonald said "now is the time for me to return to Melbourne and make up for the time I missed". She said she had her daughter's wedding to help plan, and her mother needed more support than what she could provide with fortnightly visits.
Ms McDonald said leading Canberra Health Services was a career highlight, and both a challenging and humbling experience.
"There are many things that I will be proud of and reflect upon as I leave [Canberra Health Services]," she said.
"However, I am most proud of how so many of you are now standing up and leading in a very strong way, which was not always the case when I arrived in 2018.
"This, along with a clear vision, and values and a great strategic plan focused on people, both patients and staff, tells me that [Canberra Health Services] has the solid foundations to become a truly great health service."
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said Ms McDonald led Canberra Health Services through a "significant period of transition", it having formed when ACT Health split into two organisations.
She said Ms McDonald had been an outstanding leader whose calm and unwavering response to Covid had been invaluable to staff and the entire Canberra community.
She said Ms McDonald had shown compassion and dedication as she led cultural and structural change in the organisation, and played a key role in projects including the Canberra Hospital expansion.
"Despite the long periods of time away from her family, Bernadette worked tirelessly to lead and support more than 7000 clinical, administrative and support staff in a time of significant stress and uncertainty," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
"On a personal level, it has been a privilege to work with Bernadette and I have learned a lot from her about health systems, leadership and resilience in difficult times."
The health minister said Ms McDonald would continue as chief executive of the organisation through to the end of July, and an announcement would be made in the coming weeks about who would act in the role.
