Summary
- Schonnel Gosson is PA Hospital’s award winner for nurse of the year – outpatients
- Her involvement in the Specialty OPD expansion has doubled the service offering benefiting patients from many specialties across five clinical divisions
- Her focus on team culture and engagement is the key to the success of the team who are ranked as ‘soaring’.
Inspirational leader in Speciality Outpatients, Nurse Unit Manager Schonnel Gosson, has received PA Hospital’s Nurse of the Year - Outpatient 2026 award for innovative thinking and collaborative leadership.
Best known for 26 years of career dedication to Orthopaedics as the Clinical Nurse Consultant, it was exposure to new roles in After Hours, Metro South Health governance, and relieving in Specialty Outpatients that had her striding into new territory.
She said it was the opportunity to lead the significant expansion of the Specialty Outpatient Department (OPD) in 2024 that was her biggest and most rewarding challenge.
“We expanded from one to two OPD spaces enabling us to double the service provision,” she said noting the expansion was across two different buildings.
“Outpatient occasions of service have grown from 28,000 to 53,000 a year since February 2024.”
More than just space, doubling the service delivery has been possible through an expanded platform, improved and streamlined processes, and a focus on increasing the volume of patients that come through every part of the OPD every day.
“This improved access to appointments significantly reduces the OPD wait list, some of the timeframes and delays, with targeted strategies preventing ultra long waits,” Schonnel said.
Other benefits in this OPD model accommodate appointments for those coming out of hospital for follow-up care, ongoing management and expedited referrals for rapid work-up for theatre.
Schonnel said the Specialty OPD runs clinics for five clinical divisions so every appointment does not translate to a booking on the surgical wait list.
“We offer a full range of coordinated access to clinics covering general medicine, rheumatology, vascular and endocrine services, so the model improves access to care but it doesn’t translate to doubling the surgical wait list.”
No stranger to awards for her dedication to quality improvement, Schonnel has always had her finger on the pulse of workplace culture with the latest Best Practice Australia Survey results ranking the motivated Specialty OPD team in the highest engagement category of ‘soaring’.
She said engagement and communication was the key to developing the rapport that underpinned their success in this diverse service model.
“Our culture in the department is one of support, collaboration, and true teamwork,” Schonnel said. “Even though our medical team are from visiting OPD from their specialty areas, there is shared respect and appreciation for what each brings to the table.”
“Our complaint response is very low, we have a lot of positive feedback from patients who feel supported, the staff feedback is consistent across the professional groups involved, and we genuinely love coming to work every day and sharing the vision we have for SOPD.
“When you look at the common denominator, everyone really is working together for the same outcome for each patient. That is the key to our success.”
Congratulations Schonnel and the Specialty OPD team on your acknowledgement in the 2026 International Nurses Day awards.