A Day in the Life of a hospital's injury management team manager
Declan Hofbauer is Manager of The Royal Melbourne Hospital’s (RMH) Injury Management Team, whose ‘Recovery at Work’ collaborative approach between injured workers and their managers was named this year’s winner of the Leading Return to Work Practice Award in Victoria’s 2025 WorkSafe Awards. Being the RMH’s Injury Management Team Manager since 2023, and an Injury Management Consultant with the hospital before that, Declan worked previously in injury management, claims and advisory roles, and as an osteopath — including in his own practice in Warburton, Victoria. Here’s a day in his life.
05:00 It’s an early start to wake up with my little one, but it’s all worth it as we make some coffee together (for me) as well as organising a “sooboo” (that’s two-year-old for “smoothie”) before getting out the door.
07:15 Each day I will ride my bike to day care for drop-off, making sure I give the little one a big cuddle before cycling into work at our city office.
08:00 Once I’m in the office, I’ll kick things off with a team check-in and an email and admin catch-up. A big part of the day is supporting my team; whether that’s sense-checking decisions, coaching through complex claims or helping prioritise competing demands.
09:00 Once I’ve caught up with my team and ensured they are suitably supported, I’ll jump on an organisation-wide huddle to understand the pulse of the hospital and where the demand for our services is. By doing this, we can shape how our team partners with the leaders of the organisation. During these meetings, we’ll occasionally be delivering an organisation-wide ‘people first’ message, such as promoting our Safety Culture team and Injury Management program.
10:00 Coffee time.
10:15 This time is usually invested in stakeholder engagement: meeting with service leadership across the hospital and external stakeholders as a team to align on claims and current projects. We work closely with directors and senior leadership to ensure we have top-down support for our injured employees and Recovery at Work, addressing systematic barriers to ensure success.
I will then collaborate with my team members on our strategy, either at a claim or program level depending on the conversation. Throughout the day, there is a consistent focus on ensuring injured workers receive timely, consistent and high-quality injury management support, while also lifting capability across our services.
12:00 Time for some lunch.
12:30 In our team, afternoons are dedicated to project work. This includes process development or strategic projects for our program. I’ll also hold meetings with stakeholders — both internal and external.
Recently, we developed an internal dashboard with our Digital Innovation team, delivering live data to senior leaders on our early intervention program. Visibility is so powerful in an organisation of our size.
Currently we are working with agencies and providers on an innovative program designed to improve access to treatment and drive Recovery at Work outcomes with a people-first model. Ad hoc committee and working group meetings also occur during this time.
15:00 Coffee time again!
15:15 Afternoons will regularly continue with more strategic work such as targeted desktop claim reviews that will provide support to the Injury Management Business Partners. Each week, we’ll also conduct audit and compliance reviews.
The day will be closed out with any urgent admin that needs to be addressed. We are a 24/7 business, and much like the rest of the hospital, responding to enquiries is prioritised in a triage-style manner.
17:00 At the end of the day, I’m back on the bike to clear my headspace before jumping back into family life and getting organised for another day.
22:00 Sleep.
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![](https://d1v1e13ebw3o15.cloudfront.net/data/92274/wfmedia_thumb/..jpg "Hospital’s "recovery at work" collaborative approach proves a winning model")
