Mathew Galea - Gosford Private Hospital

Mathew Galea, 32, has been Administration Officer (Health Information Services) at Healthe Care's Gosford Private Hospital on the Central Coast since December 2021.

What's the best part about your job?

Knowing that in one way or another my job and the work that I produce makes a positive impact to our patients.

Having such a diverse career background, my role in the private health sector is one of the first roles I've had that I find to be truly rewarding.

What is something about your job that not many people know about, and what would surprise other people about working in a private hospital?

As an Administration Officer within Health Information Services, our duties range from preparing admission records, collating of discharged records, assisting clinical coders with workload and queries, medico-legal requests, ordering offsite records, scanning, as well as phone, fax, and email requests.

Working in a private hospital, we all usually have our hands in so many different pies at once. While all health information service employees have their own individual duties and responsibilities, we all pitch in and assist each other where we can. At most times, we can have three, four, five things happening at once, however, this is where our time management and organisational skills are most put into play.

Health information services is very much a 'there's no I in team' department. We all work together to ensure our shared goals and visions are reached as a team accordingly.

What do you love about working in a private hospital?

Having not come from a medical background, health information services at Gosford Private was a very good first step in the door to really understand how a private hospital works and see the behind-the-scenes aspects not available to the public.

I've wanted to get into the health industry for some time as my mother has worked within the industry for a number of years now, so I feel like I'm adding to the legacy that she has already created before me.

I'm also very lucky enough to work with such amazing people who have mentored me from day one and will continue to do so throughout my career here at Gosford Private Hospital.

What do you like to do outside of work and/or what is something your colleagues don't know about you?

As I'm currently undertaking a Diploma of Clinical Coding (since August 2022), a lot of my free time and weekends are consumed by readings and assessments. However, I'm usually out hanging with friends, eating out in new restaurants, gaming, going to the movies and travel.

Something that my colleagues probably don't know about me is how much of a Disney fan I am. I've been lucky enough to visit every Disneyland and Disney Park in the world, I've stayed at six different Disney hotels around the world and come January 2024, I will be going on my second Disney cruise.

What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?

Coming from a person who is a general people pleaser and a perfectionist, I'm always striving to go above and beyond, even when it is sometimes not necessary. A previous team leader of mine once said to me, back when I worked in a call centre environment: "If a customer asks a question, provide the most accurate and detailed response, then stop talking. If they have any further questions, they will ask. If not, they won't".

I found this helped me to better manage my time management skills with phone conversations, without the need or urge to overshare and over delivery information to customers. That piece of advice has always stuck with me, and I remind myself of it every day when speaking to patients and health care professionals.

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Next Interviews:
18/10/2023 Veronica Rapley - Dudley Private Hospital

Previous Interviews:
18/9/2023 Fay Khal - PresMed Australia