THE NSW Opposition is calling on the Minns Labor Government to make restoring crucial 24-hour services at Wee Waa Hospital a top priority as the situation reaches breaking point.
The facility is only open during office hours on most days due to chronic staff shortages, forcing anyone who needs emergency care after 5pm to travel 40km to Narrabri.
NSW Nationals leader Dugald Saunders and Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson joined the mayor of Narrabri Shire, Darrell Tiemens, to speak to impacted staff and residents in the region.
It follows a debate in Parliament at the end of last month on a petition with more than 12,000 signatures requesting the Legislative Assembly to direct the Hunter New England Health District to urgently provide Wee Waa Hospital access to an onsite doctor.
The petition also asked to restore the 24-hour operation of Wee Waa Hospital, including emergency services, inpatient beds, outpatient services, and primary and community health care services as well as give monthly reports to the Government and Cr Tiemens until full 24/7 operation and on-site doctor access is restored.
NSW Nationals Leader Dugald Saunders said the town has been deprived of the medical services it deserves.
“All residents across NSW deserve the same access to high-quality health care no matter where they live, but for the past two years things have deteriorated in Wee Waa and this situation is going to cost someone their life,” Mr Saunders said.
“The reality is emergencies don’t only happen during business hours and an extra half hour drive could be the difference between life or death.
“The Premier and the health minister need to work with the Hunter New England Health District to ensure it comes to the table with a proper plan to fix things as soon as possible.”
NSW Nationals leader Dugald Saunders (left) and Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson at Wee Waa Hospital this week.
Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson said the situation has gone on for far too long.
“Right now we are seeing presentations at Wee Waa Hospital drop right off because the community simply can’t trust that services will be delivered there,” Mr Anderson said.
“When your health is suffering, or one of your loved ones is sick, you will give up almost anything to get the best care you can, and the Wee Waa community should expect the same.
“The nurses at the hospital do a great job during the day but they are in desperate need of help and can’t keep working ridiculous hours to keep things afloat.”
Cr Tiemens said the recent debate in parliament about the plight of Wee Waa Hospital was encouraging.
“I thought it went great,” Cr Tiemens said.
“There was unity across the aisle and I felt that both sides of politics realised there’s a problem in Wee Waa, when there are thousands and thousands of people going without a hospital.
“The issue is, there’s a lot of bureaucrats who don’t feel that same sense of impetus. They’re tying to same money on a budget that’s very tight and those budget dollars are going straight back to Newcastle, and not being spent out here at Wee Waa where they belong,” he said.
Cr Tiemens also fully supports the move to split Hunter New England Health District to create two health precincts.
“I’m very much in support of splitting up Hunter New England Health, and there’s a Bill before parliament and an inquiry that’s looking at splitting it into two distinct districts,” Cr Tiemens said.
“Out here on the fringes of the health district, we are already on life support so whatever can be done, even if it’s a drastic measure like splitting up the health district, needs to be done.
“I’m fully supportive of our remote and rural areas. At the moment, the fringes of our health district are right up against the Queensland border, anywhere from eight or nine hours away from the city of Newcastle, which is where Hunter New England Health is based,” he said.
“This is the only health district in New South Wales that has a large regional area that’s completely dominated by a metro area.
“Hunter New England Health is about half the size of New Zealand, and yet we’re expected to deliver really strong health services to the fringes.
“Rural and remote patients and rural and remote residents deserve top-shelf health and Wee Waa Hospital is basically being treated as a satellite of Narrabri, which is simply inappropriate,” Cr Tiemens said.
I fully agree that positive action is required to address inadequate health provision in Rural, Remote and Regional areas of NSW. Management by remote control; bureaucrats cocooned in a distant control “hub” and not listening to the voices of those that require confidence in having ready access to health provision, in what is a declining rural health provision system, need to be held to account for their “brinkmanship” modus operandi. In this day and age it is more than unbelievable that a mother has to give birth on the road-side after being “by-passed” from one hospital to another, including Tamworth Base Hospital!