2010 Telstra Business Awards Victorian Winners

Tutoring students who fall below national literacy and numeracy benchmarks is a growing area of business for Essendon-based ATS Australian Educational Group, trading as Advanced Tutoring School (A.T.S). The business provides each student under tuition with an individual learning plan to help them succeed regardless of whether they receive one-on-one tutoring or attend the small group learning classes. Established by a group of women teachers in 2007, A.T.S. rigorously tested its potential through marketing presentations to school councils, sponsorships of educational conferences, visits to kindergartens and bookshops. Government-funded programs were key targets and now A.T.S. is contracted by the Department of Education, the Catholic Education Department for its Indigenous Education Program, Anglicare and Carers Link. With 700 staff contracted on its books, A.T.S. has invested in an online time sheet and invoicing system to improve its efficiency.

“Our passion it to make the student a life-long learner and fill any educational gaps they may have and advance their progress,” — Catherine Howe-Nitz, Co-Director.

Relocating from the UK to Australia led anaesthetist Dr Sud Agarwal and Human Resources Manager Corrine Taylor to set up a recruitment company for doctors in 2001. Having identified the gap, they set up their business to assist international doctors find appropriate work and provide support around medical board registration, visas, insurance and relocation. A strong focus on locations with the greatest need has seen the business achieve medical placements in Weipa in North Queensland and the Gove Peninsula, Thursday Island and in remote communities in the Northern Territory. International Medical Recruitment is now the market leader in recruiting permanent and locum doctors in Australia and New Zealand, with its quality assurance ensuring the business remains in high demand.

"The company has grown to include dedicated divisions focusing on both the permanent and locum recruitment of doctors across all specialties and seniorities, including mental health professionals, GPs, junior doctors, and highly experienced specialists," — Robert Embury, Recruitment Manager.

Melbourne Medical Deputising Service (MMDS) provides urgent after hours medical care at home every day of the year for the patients of 650 general practice clinics in Melbourne and Geelong. Josie Adams Executive Director says the service, founded more than 30 years ago, ensures that patients including the most vulnerable people in the community – from the disabled to aged care residents and single parent families – can receive home visits after the GP clinics close. The growth of its registered GP clients, from just four in 1979 to 3000 today, is one indicator of MMDS’s value to Victoria’s health services. Another is its ability to reduce the strain on Ambulance Victoria and public hospitals. In 2009, MMDS treated 113,000 patients through its service and helped them avoid a visit to an emergency department. The Port Melbourne business operates with 15 part-time call centre staff, 75 part-time doctors and 10 administration staff who make certain that reports of consultations to the patient’s GP arrive the next day to ensure continuity of care.

“I invest in the professional development of all my team and share my knowledge of the health care industry and public policy with my successors,” — Josie Adams, Executive Director.

Traffic management technology developed by Akcelik & Associates Pty Ltd, is being used by transport professionals in 94 countries. Under the SIDRA SOLUTIONS brand, the world leader in the field of traffic management technology has created powerful traffic engineering software. These tools - SIDRA INTERSECTION and SIDRA TRIP – help achieve better solutions to challenges in the areas of road traffic operations, traffic engineering, management and control. Road users around the world have directly benefited from the practical application of two products SIDRA INTERSECTION and SIDRA TRIP. These have delivered an important innovation – the ability to take complex real-life problems and use mathematical modelling and a software interface to effectively analyse and evaluate engineering problems. Akceilik & Associates also supports the industry with a schedule of training workshops held across various countries to help educate professionals to solve traffic problems more effectively.

“We hope the end result of our work is a better, more sustainable environment which is such a critical issue facing our world today,” — Dr Rahmi Akcelik, Director.

Melbourne Medical Deputising Service provides after hours medical care for patients of 650 general practice clinics in Melbourne and Geelong. Josie Adams, Executive Director of the business founded more than 30 years ago, developed a corporate citizenship program based on MMDS’s philosophy that community service alliances result in personal and business benefits for all concerned. MMDS is well known among health professionals for the time it gives, knowledge and data it shares for analysis and the technological solutions it funds with a range of organisations. One example is its collaboration with the Epidemiology Unit of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, providing data for mapping the outbreak of the 2009 H1N1 Influenza. Josie says MMDS’s corporate citizenship program in turn increases the business’s knowledge of the needs and trends in primary medical care.

“MMDS has a wealth of knowledge and experience and regularly invests pro-bono time and effort to assist improved service delivery and research projects,” — Josie Adams, Executive Director.