By Kate Aubusson and Harriet Alexander
Jillian Skinner was elected member for North Shore almost 23 years ago to the day, spending much of that time in Opposition where she honed her understanding of health bureaucracy and became an almost permanent thorn in the NSW ALP's side.
After 14 years in Opposition, she got a taste of her own medicine when she was appointed health minister after the 2011 election.
Mrs Skinner was the target of fierce criticism over a series of health scandals in 2016, including the chemotherapy underdosing of more than 100 cancer patients by a St Vincent's Hospital oncologist and a gas mix-up at Lidcombe Bankstown Hospital that killed one newborn and left another severely brain damaged.
The Opposition renewed its attacks after two babies were mistakenly cremated, and a body bag was mislabelled at Royal North Shore Hospital. A series of legionella outbreaks across Sydney and reports some hospital emergency departments were at breaking point intensified calls for her head to roll.
"A good legacy"; Health Minister Jillian Skinner.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Opposition health spokesman Walt Secord acknowledged Mrs Skinner's "hard work and commitment to HIV/Hepatitis C prevention and her efforts on organ donation in NSW."
But he said Mrs Skinner had left the NSW health and hospital system in a "sorry state".
"Unfortunately, under Jillian Skinner's tenure, health and hospitals lurched from crisis to crisis," he said.
She is eligible to retire on a lifetime, indexed parliamentary pension in the order of $150,000 a year.
Mrs Skinner had many supporters among senior public health clinicians, who were impressed by her extensive knowledge of the health system and the complexities of her portfolio. Some believed she should have pushed harder for more federal government funding for health.
The devolution of the state's health system gave powers back to local health services and clinicians to largely manage their own affairs, and Mrs Skinner's advocacy of the landmark PrEP trial is on track to wipe out new HIV infections by 2020.
Illawarra Local Health district chairman Dennis Kind said Mrs Skinner was "the best health minister in living memory".
AMA NSW President Professor Brad Frankum said Mrs Skinner had approached the job with honesty and open communication.
"If a health minister can be judged on providing the spaces and facilities that doctors and other health workers need to do their jobs, Jillian Skinner leaves a good legacy," Professor Frankum said.
"It is a credit to Jillian Skinner that, in her tenure as health minister, she regularly met with doctors, nurses, and other health staff throughout NSW," he said.
In an interview earlier this month, former Labor health minister Craig Knowles told Fairfax Media that Mrs Skinner's years in Opposition had primed her for the role.
"In health, you're just one player in a pretty rich cast of senior players. You don't take on senior clinicians lightly. Unless they're onside, you're not going to stay in the job."