From Nursing to Health Planning: A Q&A with Annabel Frazer

With a range of factors driving an uptick in investment in better healthcare services for communities globally, we caught up with Australia & New Zealand’s Principal Health Planner, Annabel Frazer, to find out what changes she’s seeing in healthcare design right now and what her favorite part of her role is.

Let's talk with Annabel:

Tell us what you're working on these days.

As a principal health planner I work across both capital infrastructure projects and strategic advisory engagements.

What led you to specialize in healthcare design?

Following two decades of a clinical career as a nurse, I pursued my interest in design and ultimately completed my built environment degree and combined my passions. It has been a great journey.

How does what you do contribute to improved health outcomes for communities?

Prevention is always better than the cure. Our strategic advisor engagements predominately seek to develop non-capital solutions with our health clients which may include cross-sectorial approaches to better address health and wellbeing in our communities to reduce the health burden in the system.

What’s the biggest trend you’re seeing in healthcare design right now and how does this impact what you do?

The shift to ambulatory and outpatient care is well on the way. Now we need to bring not “healthcare” but “wellness” back to the primary and community environment too. This is the way of the future where each "person is the point of care", not a hospital bed.

Name one critical success factor for any healthcare design project.

Listening and being open to co-designing the solutions.

What is your favorite part of your job?

Working across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, I have the opportunity to be part of the cross-fertilization of ideas and strategies in the very rewarding field of health design. Offering leadership in clinical planning, we collaborate extensively across the region, with our global health team and with local and international clients.

What has been your proudest career moment to date?

When stories are shared by patients and staff of how a new facility has made a positive contribution to their experience, be it the course of their recovery or the way we can deliver care – those moments make me proud to be part of the team that made that happen.

When you aren’t working, what would we be most likely to find you doing?

If I’m not working and the sun is shining, I can be found walking in forests or swimming in oceans. I also love escaping into the world of cinema so one of my favorite spaces is a dark room with popcorn.

What does our tagline Challenging Today. Reinventing Tomorrow. mean to you?

Every day pushing the boundaries because tomorrow is going to bring an unprecedented level of change at a rate that we can’t even begin to anticipate. We need to dream big now to keep up.

What do you enjoy most about being part of #OurJacobs?

The diversity of people and opportunities. Our global health offering brings great value to our local clients and team.