Health executive Wayne Champion awarded Public Service Medal

A public servant who has led the Riverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network through multiple challenges over the past seven years has been recognised on the King’s Birthday honours list.

Anthony Champion – better known by his middle name, Wayne – was awarded the Public Service Medal “for outstanding service to public health in regional South Australia”.

He played a prominent role during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in managing an outbreak in the Aboriginal community of Raukkan, which he worked to contain alongside elders, health workers and community leaders.

He led local health authorities’ response to the 2022-23 River Murray floods, including the evacuation of an aged care facility at Renmark.

During the winter of 2024, he led SA Health’s response to a statewide surge in COVID and flu cases, a system-wide “code yellow” which lasted from May until August.

Being asked to tackle that crisis had been “completely unexpected and daunting”, he said.

His lasting achievements have included the establishment of the Riverland Academy of Clinical Excellence, which allows postgraduate medical students to complete their training in regional SA; and the roll-out of the Sunrise electronic patient records system at 59 regional SA hospitals.

Mr Champion told Murray Bridge News it was an “amazing” honour to have been nominated and awarded the medal.

However, he argued that it recognised a team effort, not just his work as local health network CEO.

“It’s a great way of showing the impact we as an organisation are having on SA Health as a whole,” he said.

“While it’s an individual award, I couldn’t have done any of those things without the team around me.”

It was also an indicator of the value of regional health services, he suggested: “You don’t have to be based in Adelaide to solicit ideas from Adelaide, or gain a mandate to lead service improvements.”