From Hurting to Healing

In the current healthcare crisis, is it possible to rethink the way we do things?

Australian healthcare systems are stretched and cracking. There are never-ending reports of unacceptable delays, a lack of resources, poor culture, and skyrocketing burnout rates. The problems are overwhelming and appear insurmountable.

From Hurting to Healing takes you inside the often-closed doors of hospitals, healthcare, and medical culture into an environment where practices that have worked brilliantly in the past are now breaking down.

Dr Simon Craig, an experienced medical leader, offers insights, initiatives, and inspiration to try and repair the damaged and damaging healthcare systems that currently exist. This moving study reveals that our crumbling healthcare institutions are failing in what should be at the heart of healthcare: caring for each other.

Dr Craig outlines his vision of a new way; A kinder and more humanistic approach that can help transform the devastation that exists in health today.

From Hurting to Healing reveals the extent of the distress, imagines an alternative future, and delivers to healthcare leaders a guidebook to begin recreating a part of society that is vital to us all.

This seminal work by Simon Craig beautifully explores what most of us inherently know. That health is about way more than systems, spreadsheets and processes. Health is primarily about people. And improving the way that we manage and care for the people in our health system is the first step on the journey of readying our health system for future generations.

Dr Ross Lamplugh

Chair and Founder Ochre Health Group, MBBS, FACRRM, FRACGP, GAICD

Simon Craig was my boss and head of my department when I was an obstetric registrar and then again when I returned as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist. He has always been an inspiring leader, unfussily visionary, and easy-going-in-the-extreme whilst shooting for excellence. This book is exhilarating, not least because it means that the world will, at last, be able to share what we have always had. Simon's voice ought to be heard in all hospital corridors. Cultural change starts with the individual, and this book will exemplify this whilst explaining how.

Dr Kae Sheen Wong

Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Palliative Care Registrar, BCom, LLB, MBBS, MPH, MRMed, FRANZCOG

From Hurting to Healing stands out as one of the most remarkable accounts of leadership and organisational culture I have ever encountered. Dr Craig's refreshingly unique perspective centres around the significance of interactions, communication, relationships, and teamwork in healthcare, emphasising the benefits of focusing on these elements. For anyone involved in health administration, this book is a must-read.

Dr Patrick Giddings OAM

General Practitioner, Rural generalist, Medical Administrator

Everyone - patients and professionals - are yearning for wholesome solutions based on understanding and respect of our human nature, kindness and humility. Dr Simon Craig shows a profound knowledge of all the factors that have led us to the current situation and, more importantly, of all possible solutions to get us out of it. His book sheds a bright light in the dark and should be mandatory reading to everyone involved in providing care, from medical students to policymakers.

Dr Tane Luna

MD, FRANZCOG, DDU (O & G)

Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Lismore Base Hospital, Former O&G medical advisor for Medecins sans frontieres (MSF)

Dr Simon Craig offers a unique and refreshing perspective on improving healthcare systems. In my more than three decades of working in healthcare culture change, this is one of the most optimistic takes on a better and kinder future for our medical systems I have ever seen.

Dr Craig is realistic about the complexities and constraints faced by healthcare systems, yet insists we can find better ways to provide care and support healthcare providers. The enquiring way Dr Craig tackles this highly complex topic will inspire reflection and transformation in any healthcare organisation. From Hurting to Healingoffers a vision of healthcare that is efficient, cost-effective, compassionate, and inclusive. It is a refreshing take on healthcare culture change that deserves a place on every healthcare professional's reading list.

Professor Catherine Crock AM

Physician, The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne

Deakin University, Faculty of Health

Chair Hush Foundation

Dr Simon Craig is a medical doctor who has specialised in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, working in both the public and private health systems. In addition to clinical roles, Dr Craig has been heavily involved with leadership and teaching. Guiding the development of junior staff and creating teams have been some of his greatest joys. With further study in conflict resolution and well-being science in the form of a Masters of Positive Psychology, Dr Craig's career and experience has turned to coaching and the optimisation of organisational culture. His work can be accessed through and he can be contacted through that site or at .

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