Head of Urgent Care appointed to St John Health

With St John Health’s recent expansion to six urgent care (UC) centres across Perth, a new ‘Head of Urgent Care’ role has been introduced to the team.  

It will ensure UC has the same senior representation as GP and dental, as well as specialist oversight within the management team. 

Mo Ashfaq has been promoted to this important role. 

With over 20 years’ experience and a strong commitment to staff and patient experience, Mo was the ideal candidate. 

“As Head of Urgent Care, I oversee recruitment, policies and procedures, and risk management across the service,” he said. 

“A key part of the role is listening to feedback and continuously improving the service for both patients and staff.” 

Trained in London, Mo made the move to Western Australia in 2015 where he held rural and remote GP and emergency department (ED) roles in the south west town of Collie.  

He joined St John in 2021 and has not looked back since.  

Keen to combine both his general practice and emergency medicine skills in a fast-paced setting, urgent care felt like the perfect fit. 

St John’s strong track record, good reputation and expanding urgent care portfolio made it an obvious choice for Mo.  

Helping patients as quickly as possible outside the stress and unknowns of ED makes job satisfaction high. 

“I love that urgent care allows us to resolve patients’ issues quickly – problems that might typically take hours, or most of a day, in an emergency department,” he said. 

“The work is efficient and varied, with a mix of injuries, illness, and procedures such as suturing, so no two days are ever the same.” 

And a role like Mo’s means he can find some work-life balance too – his interests include fitness, technology, coffee and bread making. 

“A big motivator is finishing a busy day with strong job satisfaction while still having time for family, friends, and hobbies,” he added. 

Mo is fully aware that his new role will not come without hurdles though. 

“I know recruiting enough suitably qualified staff to fill vacancies and increasing public awareness of the services we offer – including how we differentiate ourselves from alternative providers – will be challenges.” 

But he knows the teamwork and positive working environment at St John will keep him motivated. 

“Everyone genuinely works together – this makes it a great place for patients to receive care and a great place for staff to work,” he said. 

“Another major advantage is having multiple healthcare services under one roof, such as dental, GP, and urgent care.” 

“To someone considering St John, I’d say we offer the full package.  

“That’s the most important thing to look at – the overall offering is far greater than the sum of its individual parts.” 

Learn more about St John Urgent Care.