A Day in the Life of Merridy Baylis

When Merridy Baylis decided to enter the aged care sector in 2020, she knew she would face a steep learning curve. Now Resthaven’s Executive Manager Clinical Governance and Operational Excellence, her background as an experienced ICU nurse and senior clinician meant she rose to the challenge — and the move has proven to be both eye-opening and fulfilling. “When you take yourself out of your comfort zone, that’s when learning and value happens,” she said.

Merridy joined Resthaven in April 2020, in the role of Senior Manager Clinical Services. In this role, she provided strategic clinical operational leadership to the organisation at a time when, due to COVID-19, clinical needs were continually changing and there was a higher-than-usual emphasis on this specialist area — though new challenges were not new to her.

After finishing her nursing qualifications and working at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for some time, she moved to Saudi Arabia, working abroad for six years, meeting her husband and starting a family. In 2010, they moved back to Adelaide and Merridy returned to the ICU before becoming a Clinical Educator and working in the Transition to Professional Practice Program with ICU specialties.

Clinical work called again, and Merridy worked as an Organ Donor Coordinator for five years, while also commencing her Masters in Health Administration. With this new knowledge, Merridy moved to working with Central Adelaide Local Health Network Outpatients. She later became the Nursing Director of OPD, and then the Director.

It was in this role that she led the establishment of South Australia’s first COVID testing site, before joining Resthaven some months later. Merridy was appointed to her current role in December 2024.

She gives us insight into how she spends her day:

“As Executive Manager Clinical Governance and Operational Excellence, the day starts with checking emails for anything urgent. I check in with the senior team and ensure they are tracking on their projects and reports,” she said.

“Consumer feedback, complaints and quality audits are in my program, along with clinical audit and reporting quality indicators for the organisation — so there is a constant cycle of risk identification, monitoring and trending to readily recognise site or organisational performance issues. Hence, I work closely with the Executive Managers of Residential and Community Services.

“Resthaven believes in identifying opportunities for improvement, so there is generally a clinical project or pilot I am monitoring. Currently, we are expanding Aged Care Onsite Pharmacists to all of our homes, rolling out a falls reduction strategy, and working with all areas of the business in preparation for the New Strengthened Standards.

“I am also escalation point for senior specialist clinicians, so I make sure I am available to trouble shoot any problems for them. Ultimately, I report organisational performance to the CEO and the Board, so I work hard to ensure Resthaven is a sector leader in clinical governance and operational excellence, particularly for individuals who choose Resthaven as their aged care provider.”