PDH

Health policy did not receive the attention it deserved during the federal election campaign. This was disappointing as there's a clear difference between the way thegovernment and the opposition will tackle the issue of public hospitaladministration.

The Gillard government's Local Health and Hospital Network policy is in keeping with the planning philosophy that's dominated for the last 30 years. It reinvents the idea that hospitals must form part of bureaucratically run regional health networks that include community care facilities to ensurecommunities have a full range of health services.

Tony Abbott's announcement that a Coalition government would scrap regional bureaucracies and re-establish local hospital boards was condemned by many commentators and lobby groups as simplistic and anachronistic. Yet now the parliament is hung, Abbott's plan may help him win the support of the country independents determined to get a better deal for rural health services.

Doctors want political focus back on health

While the political jockeying continues in Canberra, doctors around the country are concerned that health is sliding off the national agenda.

Editor: Doctors are not the only people wanting to re-direct the focus. Nor are the Feds the only people ducking the question. Our NSW Government is hiding health and hospital issues behind timely screens of light rail to Newcastle and Bikie infiltration of State Police. The "NSW disease" is very real. Let's hope the State doesn't choose to go to hospital to get it fixed. A seven month wait for elective treatment will come after March and that might be too late.

Rural infrastructure under the spotlight

The infrastructure required for productive and healthy living in rural, regional and remote Australia - including broadband applications in health - will be the subject of a free public seminar in Canberra on Monday 30 August.

Held as part of the annual meeting of Council of the National Rural Health Alliance, the seminar which starts at 9am will hear addresses from a range of interest groups concerned with rural infrastructure.

There will be a focus on telecommunications and health infrastructure. Chris Pearce, Clinical Lead with the National E-Health Transition Authority, will describe some of the broadband-based e-health applications for rural communities. Sue Salthouse, Chair of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, will talk about regional communications from a consumer perspective.

Also on health, Bill Coote will provide insights into matters relating to the Pambula Hospital on the NSW south coast.

Speakers from the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), the Department of Infrastructure, and Infrastructure Australia will describe some of the challenges involved in providing local infrastructure in a federal system. Michael Deegan, Infrastructure Coordinator, will discuss the work that agency does to underpin regional communities. Adrian Beresford-Wylie, Chief Executive of the ALGA, will describe some of the physical infrastructure challenges and successes for local authorities.

Lee Morgan from South Australia will talk about the principles of infrastructure management and how to align developments with service delivery.

The public seminar will be held in the Peninsula Room at the National Museum of Australia. Registration is free and can be completed by sending an e-mail to carol@ruralhealth.org.au

Now for the state poll

Buoyed by the success of his party in the Federal poll, Liberal Member for Bega Andrew Constance is urging support for his campaign to remove

He said the latest Newspoll shows Labor’s primary vote at 25 per cent and the Liberal’s primary vote at 46 per cent resulting in a two party preferred vote of 61 per cent to the Liberals and 39 per cent to Labor.

“I’m asking local people to join me in my campaign to start the change and remove what is the most incompetent and corrupt state Labor Government in the history of NSW,” Mr Constance said.

* Plans to restore services to local hospitals such as restoring maternity to Pambula hospital, underpinned by the establishment of District Health Boards.

Govt. positive about regional hospital move

The Member for Monaro, Steve Whan, has lashed back at claims that a recent announcement about a proposed Bega Valley regional hospital on the New South Wales far south coast was misleading.

Last week, Eden-Monaro Federal MP, Mike Kelly, said that negotiations to buy land for the hospital near Bega were well advanced.

The State Opposition's Member for Bega, Andrew Constance, says there is no guaranteed that there is State funding for the land, but Mr Whan says the money is available.

"Well there is one constant in the whole debate about the Bega Hospital, and that's Andrew Constance being negative, and saying that things won't happen," he said.

"More importantly, he has never actually got himself involved in proactively trying to get something done.

Liberals outspend Labor in bidding war

The Liberal Party is outspending the incumbent Labor Party in election promises by 35 per cent in the crucial seat of Eden-Monaro.

Both major parties are committing substantial amounts of money to upgrade various hospital and health services in the electorate in recognition of community concern about declining health facilities.

Up until Tuesday, the Liberal candidate David Gazard had committed a total expenditure of $28,415,000 including $1.5 million for the emergency department at Cooma Hospital and $6 million for the Jindabyne Multipurpose Centre.

Like his Labor opponent Mike Kelly, the bulk of Mr Gazard’s funding commitments are directed at Queanbeyan and the south coast, particularly funding for Pambula and Bega hospitals which are promised $4 million between them.

Other projects he has promised in the Cooma-Monaro region include $350,000 for Snowy Mountains tourism, $65,000 for the Adaminaby Snowy Scheme collection, and $400,000 for the Bombala weir.

In contrast, Labor has promised projects worth $20,949,900. This figure excludes $68 million for the Bega bypass and $464,000 for the Nimmitabel dam which, while announced during the election campaign, had already been funded.

He has promised money for hospitals in Moruya, Batemans Bay and Cooma, in addition to $5 million for a GP super clinic in Jindabyne, $599,000 for a new preventative health program in Cooma-Monaro, Bombala and Snowy River shires, and $12 million for a 20 bed rehabilitation and aged care unit in Moruya.

Each side has criticised the other for the nature and direction of their election funding promises. Mr Gazard described the Labor promises as flimsy and could not be guaranteed.

Mr Kelly said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was quoted saying “local candidates say all sorts of things” and there was a complete disconnect between Mr Gazard’s promises and Mr Abbott’s plans.

Editor’s note: The figures quoted above were supplied to the Express by the election offices of both candidates.

Pambula maternity service promised

Couples thinking of starting a family could have their baby at Pambula District Hospital if NSW Shadow Health Minister, Jillian Skinner, follows through on a promise to reinstate maternity services to the hospital and the Liberal party wins the NSW state election in March 2011.

Ms Skinner made the announcement with member for Bega, Andrew Constance, during a meeting with Save Our Hospital Inc (SOHI) representatives at the Pambula-Merimbula Golf Club, Friday, August 13.

Ms Skinner said that the aim was to restore maternity services at Pambula hospital in conjunction with Bega District Hospital and emphasised that it was a state-based proposal.

Vice president of SOHI, Sharon Tapscott, said that the reinstatement of Pambula’s maternity service could see babies being delivered at Pambula during the second half of 2011.

The proposed model would use both Bega and Pambula hospitals with low risk maternity care offered by midwives. Pambula based GP obstetricians would form the core of medical support for the midwives and manage more complicated obstetric patients at Pambula while Bega based GP obstetricians would manage their own patients.

High risk births, elective and emergency caesareans would all take place at Pambula although local doctors would also attend Bega in the event of emergencies.

Ms Skinner’s proposal is based on a paper prepared by Merimbula doctor and GP obstetrician, Frank Simonson, who prepared detailed costings and comparisons between the existing locum-based maternity service offered at Bega hospital and a service that could be provided at Pambula using local GP obstetricians.

Dr Simonson’s paper was given to NSW Health Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, at a meeting in November 2009 but in a letter to SOHI president, Geoff Dove the minister maintained that the current arrangements for maternity services were considered “the most appropriate for this area”.

Dr Simonson has welcomed the announcement by Ms Skinner, and said: “It’s very good; it’s what we wanted the minister (Carmel Tebbutt) to do and finally someone is taking notice.”

Ms Skinner has qualified the promise saying that the decision will be based on clear evidence that there are sufficient, qualified medical staff to safely deliver and care for mothers and babies at both sites, “just as they were before January 2007”.

Dr Simonson said: “If the Liberals are in government in NSW in March then I would expect to see something within a couple of months. It’s achievable in that time frame and I’m confident that the resources are available.”

“There are now five GP obstetricians living close to Pambula while Bega is almost completely reliant on locums at a cost of between $2000-2500 a day. Greater Southern Area Health Service (GSAHS) is spending $912,000 on locums annually and this doesn’t include travel or accommodation and we have no gynaecological or neonatal service,” Dr Simsonson said.

He said that $1.477 million had been spent on maternity at Bega hospital in the 12 months to November 2009 but believed that for $1.341 million a maternity service could be provided at both hospitals.

Mr Constance said: “We have seen some change in the residence of the workforce which is reason enough to further review the maternity situation in the shire. I want to see services enhanced at both Bega and Pambula hospitals until such time as the new regional facility is built.”

Ms Skinner said: “Pambula doctors have put a proposal to the Labor Government that would allow babies to be delivered at both hospitals and we are calling on Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt to review their model.”

Still looking

Greater Southern Area Health Service (GSAHS) has engaged Health Infrastructure to continue to review suitable sites for a new Bega Valley hospital.

Health Infrastructure has identified several options to purchase a potential site for the hospital and has recently sought specialist advice to continue to investigate options for a suitable location.

In April this year, NSW Health Infrastructure bid unsuccessfully on one site at auction.

Engaging specialist advice is the latest step by Health Infrastructure in its ongoing commitment to securing land for a new Bega Valley hospital.

Representatives from Health Infrastructure will undertake a site visit this month.

GSAHS and Health Infrastructure acknowledge the uncertainty felt by the community in relation to the future of the new Bega Valley Hospital and wish to reassure the community that efforts to procure a site for the new Bega hospital are ongoing.

Jillian Skinner promises a smart way forward on maternity

Mrs. Jillian Skinner MP, NSW Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Health met recently with members of Save Our Hospital Inc. to discuss the future of maternity services across the Bega Valley.

Jillian Skinner committed the NSW Liberal Party to the return of maternity services to Pambula District Hospital.

If successful at the NSW State election due in March 2011 the NSW Liberal Party would make PDH an alternative centre for births including high risk births in the shire.

Bega Hospital would employ a midwife model, supported for emergencies by Pambula doctors, an arrangement that has already received the willing cooperation of local GP/Obstetricians in the south of the shire.

All high-risk deliveries detected before due date would be scheduled at PDH. This would relieve pressure at Bega Hospital and free up surgery space which could then be used to cater for the 650 people on the orthopedic waiting list.

It is clear that Jillian Skinner will need to convince health bureaucrats of the practicality of this plan. That might prove exhausting given their past stubborn intransigence on similar matters. It will also be necessary for the NSW Liberal Party to win the upcoming NSW State election.

Finally, for Jillian Skiner’s plan to succeed, sufficient additional properly qualified nursing staff would need to be employed. While this might seem an impediment, the demise of Greater Southern Area Health Service as the employing body will encourage nurses to return, many of whom left the service to avoid bullying.

Upgrade plans for two local hospitals

The Minister for Rural and Regional Health, Warren Snowdon, has joined Member for Eden-Monaro, Mike Kelly, to announce funding for vital health infrastructure for three health services on the south coast.

Warren Snowdon said funding of $855,900 would be delivered to four different projects at the Pambula Medical Centre, Pambula Hospital and Bega Hospital.

Pambula Medical Centre will receive up to $491,000 to offer more medical services to the Pambula community.

The investment will allow it to extend its premises on to an adjacent property and modify and fit-out both sites.

The practice will extend from five to eight consulting rooms, two of which will be used exclusively by medical students and GPs in-training.

While in Pambula, Mr Snowdon and Mr Kelly also announced the Pambula Hospital will receive $300,000 to upgrade its air conditioning system.

Tenders for the air conditioning upgrade will be called soon and the new ophthalmology service is expected to start early next year.

Mr Snowdon and Mr Kelly also announced that Bega Hospital will receive $29,900 to purchase a Paediatric Resuscitation Trolley, patient trauma trolleys and cardiac monitors.

“This emergency department equipment will be very important for Bega Hospital,” Mr Kelly said.

Mr Snowdon said “these investments would boost health and hospital services in Bega and Pambula”.

A Scorecard

Save Our Hospital Inc. is trying to gauge audience reaction to the Q & A held last Monday night 09 August at the Pambula-Merimbula Golf Club.

Eight people responded to the invitation to score the three conteders for the coming federal election and sitting NSW State MP Andrew Constance.

War of words erupts over health issues

The focus is finally on health as a war of words breaks out between the Labor and Liberal candidates in Eden Monaro over promises of money for both Pambula and Bega Hospitals.

With less than eight hours’ notice, Dr Gabriel Khouri, co-chair of the Bega Hospital medical staff council said he was asked what was at the top of his wish list if $1 million was made available for Bega hospital.

The request by federal Liberal candidate, David Gazard, was made on Monday morning, August 2 and later that day, Mr Gazard was at the front of Pambula Hospital talking about the money the Liberal party would make available for both Pambula and Bega Hospitals.

Dr Khouri said that he was asked for a “rough costing for infrastructure changes and if $1 million was made available what would be at the top of his wish list”.

Dr Khouri said: “More surgical beds are the most pressing need followed by an increase in renal facilities. I felt we could tie the two in together and by relocating the renal unit, free up space that could be used for an increase in surgical beds.”

Later that day Mr Gazard announced that the $1 million funding would allow the hospital “to increase surgical procedures by as much as 20 per cent, purchase four new surgical beds and as many as three new renal dialysis machines in a new relocated unit at the hospital”.

But Dr Khouri has told the News Weekly that while $1 million would cover the changes to the renal unit, it would not cover the installation and staffing for four new beds in the surgical ward.

Gazard: Health promises are genuine

The Liberal Candidate for Eden-Monaro, David Gazard, has denied claims that his financial commitments to health facilities in South East New South Wales are unrealistic.

The Federal Government says there is an $8m hole in Mr Gazard's costings for health projects on the state's Far South Coast, and there is no guarantee that the funding will be available.

Mr Gazard has promised a number of investments in the region, including a $3m transitional care wing at Pambula Hospital.

"They have been made in a targeted way to address specific concerns in hospitals.

"And I would draw on the Coalition's experience in managing the budget to buttress those claims."

"You've got to remember that this is the Government making these claims, that has spent nearly $900 000 building a toilet block up at Quaama Public School."

Rural people urged to shout out loud as pollies ‘give bush health silent treatment’

The Rural Doctors’ Association of Australia (RDAA) is urging country communities to hold “decibel-breaking” public meetings to demonstrate how concerned they are with poor access to local health services and the worsening shortage of health professionals in the bush.

The call comes in the closing stage of the federal election as the major parties continue to ignore the rural health crisis in the lead-up to polling day, the RDAA says, despite 12,500 rural Australians having died preventable deaths as a result of poor access to healthcare services since the last federal election three years ago.

“The huge turnout at recent public meetings in the rural New South Wales communities of Wagga Wagga and Pambula alone show the significant concern that is festering in the bush when it comes to accessing local healthcare, says the association’s CEO, Steve Sant.

“Around 5000 people met at the weekend in Wagga Wagga to protest ongoing delays with, and under-funding of, development of the region’s new hospital.

“And hundreds braved wet, cold and windy conditions in Pambula last week to attend a public meeting that brought together local candidates to hear the community’s continuing concerns around the closure of Pambula Hospital’s maternity unit.

“The plain fact is that, despite the extreme lack of attention being given to rural Australia and rural healthcare in this election, seven million Australians live in the bush, many of them live in marginal electorates . . .and all of them care about whether they can get access to a doctor, other health professionals, a hospital and other local health services.

“Given the major parties are giving rural health the silent treatment this election, rural communities need to get out the megaphones and let our pollies know exactly what they think about the erosion of health services in the bush,” says Mr Sant.

Editor: Dear Mr. Sant. We have been shouting from the rooftops for two years and more. We have told our NSW State Government exactly what we think of their absolute failure to properly sevice health needs on the Far South Coast. We have repeatedly pointed out the damage that ill-advised changes to service delivery has caused. We have volunteered advice on how the disaster, created in health by sanctioned mismanagement could have been avoided and how, having been implemented could be corrected. Three Premiers, three Health Ministers and a host of bureaucrats have ignored that advice. We know what needs to be done. We will continue to work to achieve the fair go we deserve, knowing that at least half the pollies in NSW are listening.

Facts bent

Sadly, Barry Stevens (BDN 6/8) is prepared to bend the facts and inflame local prejudices for grubby political purposes.

The reality is that despite being in government for nearly three years, Mike Kelly is the most ineffectual advocate for Pambula hospital, compared with Andrew Constance and David Gazard.

Mr Kelly has delivered health funding virtually to every town around Eden-Monaro - with the glaring exceptions of Pambula/Eden/Merimbula/Tura.

Far from advancing the cause of Pambula hospital, he wants to downgrade Pambula Hospital from a real hospital to a second-rate type of medical clinic known as an MPS - multi-purpose service.

Far from giving us a Bega Valley hospital board, so Pambula and Bega hospitals can work together locally for the good health of the Bega Shire, MrKelly will replace control of our hospitals from Wagga by control of our hospitals from Queanbeyan and Goulburn.

Far from fighting the bankrupt NSW government for the desperately-needed new Bega hospital, or coming up with Federal money, he takes refuge in the fact that “legally” that’s a State issue.

In only 10 weeks since pre-selection, David Gazard working co-operatively with Andrew Constance is delivering, when elected, a $1 million commitment to slash the 650-strong surgery waiting list at Bega Hospital. And he is delivering a new $3 million transition wing at Pambula hospital to take the pressure off acute beds at Bega Hospital and help our ageing population.

Pambula hospital has been named and discussed in the Federal and State Parliaments, no thanks to Mr Kelly, but because of Andrew Constance and the Save Pambula Hospital campaign - and that is easy to prove.

Barry Stevens claims to be a rock-solid supporter of Pambula Hospital (as well as the ALP) but now sabotages saving Pambula Hospital by inflaming local rivalry between Bega and Pambula, which should be dead, buried and cremated.

This is the same indecent wedge politics that saw Steve Whan figuratively run out of town only a fortnight ago.

Mr Kelly has failed Pambula Hospital. The only way left to save Pambula Hospital is to change governments - both Federal and State.

Labor promises coast health funding

The Federal Government has announced funding for nine healthcare projects on the Far South Coast of New South Wales.

If the Government is re-elected, five projects in the Eurobodalla will receive funding, including $12m for a 20-bed rehabilitation and aged care unit at Moruya.

The Minister for Rural and Regional Health, Warren Snowdon, says the investments are more realistic than those promised by the Opposition.

"Your Liberal candidate has made false promises, because he's under-costed them quite significantly, and there's no guarantee that Tony Abbott's going to provide the money in any event."

12.19pm Monday 09 August 2010 - Mike Kelly,Warren Snowdon posted Monday, 9 August 2010

Labor investing in health services for the far south coast

Minister for Rural and Regional Health, Warren Snowdon, today joined Federal Labor Member for Eden-Monaro, Mike Kelly, to announce funding for vital health infrastructure for three health services on the south coast.

The funding is part of Federal Labor’s commitment to investing in better health services for all Australians.

Investing in health infrastructure is part of the Gillard Labor Government’s economic plan, to provide better health services and support regional economies.

In contrast, Tony Abbott would take the knife to health funding, with plans to cut GP Super Clinics and cut the after hours GP helpline.

Warren Snowdon said funding of $855,900 would be delivered to four different projects at the Pambula Medical Centre, Pambula Hospital, and Bega Hospital.

Pambula Medical Centre will receive up to $491,000 to offer more medical services to the Pambula community.

The investment will allow Pambula Medical Centre to extend its premises on to an adjacent property and modify and fit-out both sites. The practice will extend from five to eight consulting rooms, two of which will be used exclusively by medical students and GPs in-training.

“I am particularly pleased that this federal funding will enable Pambula Medical Practice to train more doctors here on the far south coast,” Mike Kelly said.

While in Pambula, Warren Snowdon and Mike Kelly also announced the Pambula Hospital will receive $300,000 to upgrade its air conditioning system.

The new air conditioning unit will service Pambula Hospital’s operating theatre, recovery and sterile stock storage areas.

“These capital works will allow the start of a new ophthalmology service for local residents in Pambula. Previously, residents here had to travel to Canberra or Batemans Bay for ophthalmology treatment, so this announcement is terrific news for the region,” Mike Kelly said.

“This expansion of services at Pambula Hospital means we can deliver more high quality health care close to people’s homes,” Warren Snowdon said.

Tenders for the air conditioning upgrade will be called soon and the new ophthalmology service is expected to start early next year.

Pambula Hospital will receive $35,000 to purchase a heart monitor and a mechanical ventilator to provide assisted breathing for patients requiring emergency care.

“This emergency department equipment will be very important for Pambula Hospital, and will mean better health services for the far south coast region,” Mike Kelly said.

Warren Snowdon and Mike Kelly also announced that Bega Hospital will receive $29,900 to purchase a Paediatric Resuscitation Trolley, patient trauma trolleys, and cardiac monitors.

“This emergency department equipment will be very important for Bega Hospital”, Mike Kelly said.

Warren Snowdon said these investments would boost health and hospital services in Bega and Pambula.

“The Gillard Labor Government is investing in health and hospital service improvements. In contrast, last week Tony Abbott confirmed that a Coalition Government would cut vital elective surgery upgrades at Bega Hospital,” Warren Snowdon said.

“Mr Abbott lacks the judgement needed to deliver better health and hospital services.”

To further improve health services for communities in rural and remote areas, the Gillard Labor Government is delivering 1,000 new nursing training places every year and an additional 1,300 GPs qualified or training by 2013.

A Gillard Labor Government would move Australia forward with record investments and the most significant reforms to the health and hospitals system since the introduction of Medicare.

MP says health boundary 'ill considered'

The New South Wales Opposition Member for Bega, Andrew Constance, has criticised the new boundaries for the south east Local Health Network.

The Government released the map of the networks yesterday, and the region will be part of a group covering Goulburn to Eden, with the ACT to be considered as a future addition.

Mr Constance says the network reverts to the 2005 Southern Area Health Service model, which he maintains was a failure.

NSW Government's Proposed New Local Hospital Network Boundaries

Coalition health promises under microscope

The Liberal Candidate for Eden-Monaro, David Gazard, has been questioned about his recent health funding announcements in South East New South Wales.

Mr Gazard has promised $1m for upgrades at Bega Hospital, and $3m for a transitional care wing at Pambula.

But the Co-Chairman of the Bega Hospital Medical Staff Council, Dr Gabriel Khouri, says the Bega upgrades would cost around $2m more than promised, and the Pambula wing would cost three-to-four times as much.

Editor: How does Dr Khouri expect credibility on this and other issues involving costs when describing his preference for a single obstetric service he has said that "it is imperative that service model decisions are based on the greatest value to be gained for the monies spent" (Letters to the editor - Merimbula News Weekly - 16 Jul, 2010 08:43 AM)

In the case of the single service currently available at Bega Hospital that imperative has never been realised. The single service there has been seriously and continuously challenged since the day it was imposed. It has never provided proper value for money and has been clearly shown by as uneconomical by Dr Bill Coote and Wolfgang Kasper in their report "Health and Hospital Care at Pambula". p25, p28, p31.

Abbott to take control of hospitals

A Coalition government would move to take full funding control of hospitals but only with agreement from the states and territories, Tony Abbott has announced.

Unveiling a health policy worth more than $3.5 bilion in Sydney today, Mr Abbott said a Coalition Government would not seize control of hospitals from the states by force, and promised to keep his hands off their GST revenue.

"We have no intention of running a tax grab - but we certainly do want to end the blame game," he said.

And he said the Coalition would move towards a 'casemix' funding system, which allocates funding via a formula based on how many and what types of patients hospitals treat.

NSW to scrap Area Health Services

As part of the COAG health agreement signed earlier this year, the State Government agreed to scrap Area Health Services and replace them with Local Health Networks.

Seventeen will be created across the state in place of the eight current health services.

The State Government says the establishment of the networks will de-centralise public hospital management, increasing local accountability to drive improvements in performance.

The Premier says the changes will deliver an extra $1.2 billion in funding to the state's health system.

Hospital Future Looks Good

The future of Pambula District Hospital was the only winner to emerge from Monday nights Health Q & A conducted at the Pambula Merimbula Golf Club.

Well attended by around 170 people, local candidates Catherine Moore (Greens), David Gazard (Liberal) and Mike Kelly (Labor incumbent) faced pre-submitted questions from community members.

“The future of Pambula Hospital I can tell you now from my meeting with Carmel Tebbutt (NSW Health Minister) is cast iron guaranteed. It will not be closed, okay?”

“The Liberals want it (Pambula Hospital) to have a future as a viable part of our community,” Mr Gazard said.

Better medical facilities at Bega Hospital with $1 million boost

Liberal candidate for Eden-Monaro David Gazard today threw his support behind better medical facilities at Bega Hospital by promising a major financial boost for improved services.

Mr Gazard said that an elected Liberal Government would provide $1 million to allow the hospital to increase surgical procedures by as much as 20 per cent, purchase four new surgical beds and as many as three new renal dialysis machines in a new relocated unit at the hospital.

“This money will help ensure the hospital has the facilities it needs to create better health outcomes for patients across the region,” Mr Gazard said.

“We want to ensure the Bega Hospital has the capacity to meet the needs of the area and doctors have told me this is the way to do it.

Many questions but not necessarily the answers the punters wanted to hear

Organisers of the Question and Answer session this week with the candidates for the Federal seat of Eden Monaro have pronounced themselves well pleased with the outcome, though many who sat through the two-hour marathon will be as confused now as they were at the start.

The Q&A was a talk fest of health and hospitals policy centered on the strong local community push to maintain and restore services to Pambula Hospital.

It was organised by Save Our Hospitals Incorporated (SOHI) which has campaigned strongly in support of the hospital for several years, who have collected more than 22,000 signatures on a petition, made representations to state and federal politicians and to Bega Valley Shire Council and argued the issues repeatedly with the bureaucrats of the Greater Southern Area Health Service (GSAHS).

The Q&A in the leadup to the Federal election on August 21 gave them the opportunity to get several of the local political players in the same room and they did not miss their chance.

Questions from the floor to the candidates were decided in advance and came mainly from SOHI members and supporters.

Sitting member Mike Kelly provided the first big surprise of the night by announcing that he had met earlier that day with State Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt and extracted two undertakings from her.

The first was that the future of Pambula Hospital was “cast iron guaranteed” and the second that the State Government was still moving ahead with the purchase of land for the long-promised new $100 regional hospital for Bega.

Ms Tebbutt had also told him, he said, that NSW Health’s draft plans for the new Local Hospital Networks (LHNs) would be released “in a matter ofdays.”

Pambula hospital’s future appears secure

Cast iron guarantees on the future of Pambula Hospital were given by candidates at Monday night’s debate on local health issues and Member for Eden Monaro Mike Kelly also announced that the NSW Government was about to purchase land for the long promised new Bega Hospital.

These were the highlights of the two-hour question and answer session at the Pambula Merimbula Golf Club for the three main contenders for Eden Monaro including the Liberal’s David Gazard and The Greens Catherine Moore.

But the clear winner was State Member for Bega Andrew Constance, who shared the podium with them, and who said the imbalance was because his State Labor opponent Steve Whan, Minister for Primary Industries, Emergency Services and Rural Affairs, “did not have the guts to come here tonight”.

Mr Constance showed that he had a much better grasp of the local hospital issues than his Federal counterparts.

Overall the questioners and audience of some 170 people appeared to have the better of their debate with the politicians, chronicling the long list of broken promises, inaction on local demands and the misuse of the medical services and resources available in the area.

The biggest loser on the night was the Greater Southern Area Health Service (GSAHS) with all candidates roundly condemning it as a failure.

$3m for new wing at Pambula hospital

Liberal candidate for Eden Monaro David Gazard has announced a $3 million grant for a new transitional care wing at Pambula Hospital.

He said the 15-20 bed unit would the meet “growing and unmet urgent need” for transitional care in the local community. Mr Gazard said he would also continue the fight with state Liberal Member for Bega Andrew Constance to see the NSW government return maternity and other specialist health services to Pambula Hospital in the absence of the promised new $100 million regional hospital in Bega.

“Labor want Pambula closed, the Liberals want it to have a future as a viable part of our community,” he said.

“The sharp political message is that Labor wants to run services out of this hospital. We want to return them,” he said in an announcement at the entry to Pambula Hospital on Monday.

Mr Gazard said the transitional care facility would allow patients to recover from illness or surgery, but meant they could recuperate with the appropriate level of care while freeing up hospital beds for other patients.

It was something a Federal Liberal government could do immediately on coming to power, he said.

Rural doctors criticise Coalition health policy

The Rural Doctors Association says the Federal Coalition's rural health policy does not do enough to attract medical staff to the bush.

The Opposition announced on Friday it would double the number of Medical Rural Bonded Scholarships, offer incentives for nurses to work in remote areas and fund training for nurses in rural and regional towns.

But Rural Doctors Association president Nola Maxfield says medical students need to be targeted early on through tailored training.

"To have a rural generalist pathway, as we call it, which will provide them with the type of training that will enable them to be competent rural doctors," she said.

Abbott pledges funding for Defence health

Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has pledged an extra $77 million for the health and dental care of Defence Force families.

He made the promise at Larakeyah barracks during a visit to Darwin where he was campaigning in the marginal Labor-held seat of Solomon.

Mr Abbott says he wants to ensure the families of those in the Defence Force are looked after.

"Their husbands, their fathers, their wives, their mothers are wearing our uniform," he said.

"They're doing great work for us and the ones they leave behind should never be forgotten and they certainly won't be forgotten by the Coalition."

Mr Abbott says his promise to expand the Defence dental scheme will not be extended to all Australians because there is not enough money in the budget.

"The problem is that the current Rudd-Gillard Government has massively mortgaged our future," he said.

Editor: One report claims that following this announcement the ADF experienced a rush of applications to join from rural Australians, many of whom have not had a public dental service since last century.

Nurses prepare for the Q&A evening.

Dissatisfied with several aspects of health and hospital care in rural NSW, local nurses have defied gags to record some questions they want answered by politicians at the SOHInc. Question and Answer evening, 7.30pm at the Pambula/Merimbula Golf Club on Monday 2 August 2010.

I. Will your party, if elected, sign off on the Nurses State Award that expired on 30/6/10?

2. What will your party do about increasing the availability of rehabilitation facilities within this electorate?

3. What will your party do about trans-border patients along the NSW-Victoria border where the hospital is in NSW but a percentage of patient come from Victoria i.e. Mallacoota-Pambula, Albury-Wodonga, Echuca-Moama, Barum-Kondarook

4. Will your party investigate if Greater Southern Area Health is getting value-for-money in the agreement with ACT Health to provide tertiary health care for the surrounding areas?

5. Will your party look into standardising policies for health care across the State rather than the current local area policy system that changes from one health area to another?

6. How large is the catchment area that is to be serviced by the 6-8 bed Mental Health Unit at Bega hospital?

7. Why has NSW Health only introduced segments of the Garling Report without coalface consultation?

8. Why have staffing issues as recommended by the Garling Report been overlooked?

9. How will your party assist nurses in rural areas to obtain education sufficient to satisfy mandated requirements under the new National Accreditation System?

10. Why is the government spending large amounts of health care money on bottled water when the Director General has stated that a reduction in waste from public hospitals is a requirement?

11. What will your party do about increasing rural access to oncology services and the inclusion of palliative care funding for community care to free up acute beds in rural hospitals?

12. What will your party do about rectifying the inequality of service provision for rural health?

I3. What will your party do about reinstating maternity care in the rural hospitals where it has been progressively removed under the current government across the rural sector placing additional strain and risk to expectant mothers?

14. What will your party do about moving forward with the new regional hospital for the Bega Valley?

15. If your party chooses not to move forward with the new regional hospital for the Bega Valley the how will it recover taxpayer money that has already been spent on a fruitless consultation process?

16. If local boards are reinstated will they be answerable to GSAHS or act as independent bodies, separate from GSAHS?

Fishing for votes in Eden-Monaro

A local environmental issue and a looming hospital closure are two issues shaping up to loosen Labor’s hold on Australia’s most important electorate. A few thousand votes separate Labor and Liberal in the bellwether seat.

A cluster of fishermen at Bermagui frustrated about a Commonwealth plan to lock them out of fishing grounds in 2012 could have enough sway to swing the marginal seat toward either of the two major political parties.

Meanwhile, a further 1000 unhappy townsfolk at Pambula are not pleased with the NSW Labor Government about the intended closure of the town’s hospital.

This week, a leading member of the Eden-Monaro fishing community offered votes to whichever major party would help his fishermen. The Bermagui Fishermen’s Co-Op manager, Rocky Lagana, who runs the biggest business in town, said: “There are thousands of votes on the table and we are willing to listen.”

Candidates to get a health check

Every vote counts in the tightly contested seat of Eden-Monaro and that puts voters in a prime position to extract the best possible deal from the political candidates for improvements to their communities.

The locally based Save Our Hospital Inc (SOHI) group intends to capitalise on the precarious nature of the seat and use it as a weapon in its battle to improve health and hospital services in the Bega Valley Shire.

With that in mind it is hosting a Question and Answer Forum to quiz the political candidates on health issues. Member for Eden Monaro Mike Kelly, Liberal candidate David Gazard, Greens candidate Catherine Moore and State Member for Bega Andrew Constance have all indicated they will attend. Member for Monaro Steve Whan has also been invited but at the time of going to press SOHI had no response from him.

The Q & A will be held at the Pambula Merimbula Golf Club on Monday, August 2 starting at 7.30pm and people are asked to submit their questions to info@savepambulahospital.com prior to the evening. This will not exclude questions from the floor towards the end of the evening for those who may not have access to a computer.

In an oyster shell, this is where it's won or lost

Oyster farmer Rick Christensen is as tough as the hard-shelled molluscs he farms but he doesn't mind being bossed around by a woman.

The 50-year-old dad from the small town of Nelligen, population 230, will vote for Julia Gillard's Labor Party on August 21.

''A lot of men say they don't like taking orders from a woman but they're married so they're lying through their teeth,'' Mr Christensen said.
He is one of about 93,000 voters in the Eden-Monaro electorate.

Eden-Monaro, a 30,000 square kilometre region in south-eastern NSW, represents a perfect cross-section of Australia. Since 1972, the party whose candidate has won Eden-Monaro has won government.

While many on the Eden-Monaro coast are against marine parks, Mr Christensen says they are a great idea.

In Eden-Monaro, sections of angry, undecided voters could dictate the fate of the nation.

A local environmental issue and a looming hospital closure are two issues shaping up to loosen Labor's hold on Australia's most important electorate. A few thousand votes separate Labor and Liberal in the ''bellwether'' seat.

Meanwhile, a further 1000 unhappy townsfolk at Pambula are not pleased with the NSW Labor Government about the intended closure of the town's hospital.

Many Pambula people say they will vote for any federal party offering to protect the hospital from the state.

This week, a leading member of the Eden-Monaro fishing community offered votes to whichever major party would help his fishermen. The Bermagui Fishermen's Co-Op manager, Rocky Lagana, who runs the biggest business in town, said, ''There are thousands of votes on the table and we are willing to listen.''

The commercial and recreational fishermen to be locked out of the fishing grounds mostly come from Bermagui and further north at Narooma.

All your questions answered!

In the looming federal and state elections, our country’s health has been recognized as possibly the most crucial issue facing Australian voters.

For the last 38 years the bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro has proved that this constituency is discerning enough to swing towards the party offering them the best deal. This district has suffered its fair share of political debacles and mismanagement in the health and hospitals arena, and deserves some political straight talking.

In an effort to answer some of the questions plaguing local voters, SOHInc has organized a Question and Answer night at 7.30pm Monday August 2nd at the Pambula Merimbula Golf Club Garden Room. “This is a critical issue in the far south coast region of the electorate, and it is vital that our community is given the opportunity to hear all the political options.” Says SOHInc President Geoff Dove.

The panel will consist of both State and Federal representatives of all major political parties including the Greens. Acceptances have been received from Mike Kelly, David Gazard, Catherine Moore and Andrew Constance. Any Independent candidates are welcome to contact SOHInc through the below email address to be included on the panel. A group of local doctors will also be available in an advisory capacity.

The meeting will be given wide media exposure and will be chaired by Mr Michael Salkeld, a highly respected former senior public servant who held the appointment of First Assistant Secretary, Committees and Corporate Services, with the Australian Parliament. He is not affiliated with any local action or lobby group.

This is YOUR opportunity to put your questions regarding health to any of the candidates for both federal and state seats in the upcoming elections.

Questions should be prepared and submitted to SOHInc via their email address: info@savepambulahospital.com to be ordered into a sequence to flow logically through the night. There will also be an opportunity for questions from the floor towards the end of the evening.

Make the most of this rare chance to grill your local politicians in your own backyard!

Shirley and Neil keep the issue on the boil

Few people, perhaps none are as fully informed as Shirley Rixon and Neil Rainbow on public opinions regarding government officials and bureaucrats who dictate the quality of health services across NSW. Few people understand the real nature of public disenchantment with the provision of health service delivery across rural NSW.

Visitors to the Sapphire Coast willingly talk with Shirley and Neil when at our markets and at every other public venue where crowds gather. Holiday makers, returning to the area, seek them out to exchange views on changes that have occurred in health between visits.

These two determined soldiers-for-the-cause persevere in all weather. They travel to the ends of the Shire and into south east Victoria at their own cost to gather facts and opinions and to spread the word that the community they represent cares about its hospital and the services provided there.

Theirs is a crusade focussed on the return of all services lost at Pambula District Hospital. They care about the young women who face frightening uncertainty as the birth of a new baby approaches. They want a fair go for us all. Thank you Shirley and Neil.

Unjustifiable and indefensible attribution of blame

Dear Mr Whan,

Re: Bega District News Friday 02 July 2010

I refer to comments attributed to you that were published on page 2 of the Bega District News on Friday 02 July 2010, in which you said, among other things: “I will continue to support building a new hospital even though that task is made more difficult by the constant political point scoring from the opposition and short-sighted campaigns being run by some supporters of Pambula hospital”.

It is apparent your reference to “some supporters of Pambula hospital” includes our association and its members.

We reject in the strongest terms and resent your unjustifiable and indefensible attribution of blame to our association and its members/supporters for the failure of the NSW Government to diligently pursue construction of the proposed new regional hospital in Bega.

Snips, snipes and even a laugh…the latest in health reform news

I recently suggested that it might be useful if the Department of Health and Ageing executive charged with driving health reform implementation,

Graeme Head, could start a blog to talk about the challenges involved, and to crowdsource ideas and feedback.

I didn’t realise at the time that the NSW Health Director-General, Professor Deb Picone, had just kicked off her own blog to do exactly this.

Hopefully it’s one small step towards breaking down the barricades that stifle open public discussion of health issues.

Whan’s wedge in local hospital politics

Member for Bega, Andrew Constance, has accused Labor Member for Monaro and Emergency Services Minister, Steve Whan, of deliberately seeking to divide the Bega Valley Shire community to deflect attention from the state government’s failure to build the new regional hospital in Bega.

Mr Constance’s comments follow comments by Mr Whan about the proposed Bega Hospital, in which he accused Save Our Hospital Inc (SOHI) of running a short-sighted campaign.

In a statement to the Bega District News, July 2, Mr Whan said: “I will continue to support building a new hospital even though that task is made more difficult by the constant political point scoring from the opposition and the short-sighted campaigns being run by some supporters of Pambula hospital.”

The future of the new Bega Hospital has been called into question after no funds were listed for the hospital in the recent state budget.

Mr Constance said: “The reason that the new regional hospital is not proceeding has nothing to do with the campaign run by the people of Pambula, Merimbula and Eden to see services restored at Pambula Hospital as is claimed by Mr Whan, it is all to do with the financial mismanagement and incompetence of the State Labor Government.

Member for Eden Monaro, Dr Mike Kelly, denies that Bega Hospital is dead in the water and wouldn’t comment on Mr Whan’s views about SOHI.

“I don’t want to comment on what Steve Whan has said. I have met the community and talked about Pambula Hospital and I have made representations on their behalf. I am pursuing a good outcome for Pambula health services. ”

While Dr Kelly fell short of confirming that Pambula would have maternity services returned he did say: “I believe there’s a place for Pambula Hospital in the new commonwealth plan for hospital networks”

He said that he wanted to ensure that the new Bega Hospital would be a category 1 hospital that would be part of a local hospital network.

Dr Kelly also confirmed that talks were continuing on land purchase options for the new hospital.

“I will be meeting with Carmel Tebbutt, (State health Minister) and talking about the new Bega Hospital and plans for Pambula on July 20.”

Mr Constance said: “A new regional hospital will not happen anytime soon so it is critical that services be enhanced at both Bega and Pambula Hospitals as both facilities depend on each other to function.”

He also condemned Mr Whan’s comments about the community group that supports the retention of maternity services at Pambula.

“Mr Whan should also be explaining why the State Labor Government over the 16 years it has been in office has stripped services from Pambula Hospital and why the former head of the health service promised a return of services 18 months ago with very little being returned.

“Instead Mr Whan is engaged in woeful wedge politics by seeking to blame others for the incompetence of the government of which he is a senior member,” he said.

Request for Whan contacts

In response to many requests today here are the contacts for The Hon. Steve WHAN, MP., Member of the Legislative Assembly, Member for Monaro, Minister for Primary Industries, Minister for Emergency Services, and Minister for Rural Affairs, Member of the Australian Labor Party.

Monaro Electorate Office
Address
Mr Steve Whan, MP
110-112 Monaro Street
QUEANBEYAN NSW 2620
Phone (02) 6299 4899
Fax (02) 6297 9998
Email
monaro@parliament.nsw.gov.au

Ministerial Office
Address
Mr Steve Whan, MP
Level 33 Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer Place
SYDNEY NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9228 3800
Fax(02) 9228 3804
Email
office@whan.minister.nsw.gov.au

Whan's spectacularly ignorant verbal abuse should be withdrawn

I write in response to Mr. Whan’s comment made in the Bega District News on Fri 2nd July.

Mr Whan complains that the task of securing a new Hospital for Bega “has been made difficult by a short-sighted campaign being run by some supporters of Pambula District Hospital.”

This assertion is ridiculous in the extreme and only goes to prove how little Mr. Whan is aware of the correct circumstances.

The supporters of PDH (or any other hospital for that matter) do not have control of the State Budget and to suggest that a group of community minded people on the Far South Coast has any control over the money for infrastructure is Ludicrous. If we did we would not be in our current situation.

Everyone is aware that the State Government does not have enough money to buy a packet of sausages, so it comes as no surprise to anyone that the money for a new hospital at Bega was not forthcoming.

The Government Mr. Whan represents made a promise and now cannot fulfil this promise so he seeks to divert the unpopular outfall from himself by blaming a concerned group of citizens that are only trying to secure the best health outcome for the whole of the Bega Valley Shire, an outcome that was supported by 22,062 signatories to a petition that was presented to the NSW Parliament in March 2009.

Mr Whan has displayed a spectacular amount of ignorance of the circumstances that lead to the formation of SOHI (Save Our Hospital Incorporated), and has done nothing to rectify that situation by contacting anybody involved.

Mr Whan also does not recognise that the loss of PDH will have a devastating effect on Bega Hospital and will cause the entire health service in the Bega Valley Shire to collapse, thus causing a rippling effect that will engulf the whole electorate.

It takes no skill at all to make a bad situation worse and to downgrade PDH before we have anything to replace it lacks the most basic of common sense.

Unfortunately Mr Whan has made the situation worse with his careless and ill informed comments.

Here is our invitation for Mr Whan to meet with SOHI and get the real facts from the people on the ground suffering the consequences of the GSAHS’s bad management.

It is time for Mr. Whan to support his claim with evidence or he must afford us a public retraction of his inflammatory statement.

He (and Mike Kelly) needs to know he has really alienated himself and he must address the situation and make it right.

Mr Whan should not continue to be content to adhere to the questionable advice he gets from Bureaucrats.

Yours faithfully
Sharon Tapscott
Vice President, SOHI
P.O. Box 35
Pambula NSW 2549

Editor: Steve, your comments have stirred one highly respected local member of the medical profession to say, "Hooray. I am very happy to take responsibility for stopping a bad decision. They could have chosen Option 1 instead, and improved both hospitals, and everyone would have benefited, but they didn't. They have themselves to blame."

Believe it or not people from the Bega electorate talk to people in the Monaro electorate. The loose mouthed abuse you have slung at our community is being heard on your side of the fence. You need to fix this. The many letters received for publication on this website regarding your erroneous and insulting remarks indicates that you are fast losing a battle you might need to win if you want to be re-elected.

Steve Whan should apologise for his disgraceful hospital comment

State Labor’s Minister for Emergency Services, Steve Whan, may be in a funk about the impending defeat of the Keneally (aka Carr, Iemma, Rees ) Government, but not even that understandable sense of panic excuses his unforgivable put down of supporters of Pambula District Hospital (PDH).

In a pathetic attempt to explain away the revelation in the recent NSW Budget that there is - once again and still - no money for the proposed new Bega hospital, Mr Whan copped out of facing the hard truth that a new Bega hospital is not a Labor priority. Mr Whan chose instead to “shoot the messengers” - all 22,000 of them who signed the petition to the NSW Parliament seeking the retention of Pambula District Hospital and the restoration of its full services.

Mr Whan said: “I will continue to support building a new hospital even though that task is made more difficult by the constant political point scoring from the opposition and the short-sighted campaigns run by some supporters of Pambula Hospital (my emphasis ).” (Bega District News 2 July 2010).

Mr Whan and all local media are very well aware that the campaign to save Pambula hospital has always supported and encouraged the proposed new Bega Hospital and they will continue to support it. The recent Coote-Kasper report confirms that the growth rate of demand for health services in the Pambula Hospital catchment requires the retention and restoration of Pambula Hospital, working together with the existing overloaded Bega Hospital and the proposed new Bega hospital, whenever it may materialises. Anything less is deliberate misrepresentation of the kind Mr Whan has indulged in.

Mr Whan’s father was a decent Labor repres ntative. The son should pull back from descending to the level of the political thugs who assassinated Kevin Rudd and promptly publicly apologise for his wrong, disgraceful and deliberately divisive comments. We do not need Sussex Street politics on the Sapphire Coast.

Editor: You could fix this if you cared about honesty Steve. It seems you are more intent on destabalising the community of a neighbouring Liberal held electorate that your Government has assiduously ignored over the current parliamentary term. Name the supporters your claim denegrates. Provide evidence of how any person you name has run a "shortsighted campaign" to cause there now to be no funding for the construction of a new Bega hospital. Better still, withdraw your tainted, ill-founded opinion by offering a convincing public apology on this website and in our three local newspapers.

Barb Aggenbach answers Whan's insults

I would like to refer to your comments made in the Bega District News 2nd July, 2010 regarding NO HOSPITAL for Bega.

Mr. Whan, with all due respects have you been living under a ‘rock’ for the past 3-4 years??
When have you ever attended any of our campaigns?? I will enlighten you.

So, Mr. Whan if you think the above list is what you say to be ‘campaigns run by some shortsighted supporters’…think again. To me and thousands of others, it is a community of dedicated residents and ratepayers fighting for our health and saving our Pambula Hospital.

I believe that you were assistant to the Planning Minister at some stage and find it very strange that you did not pick up that the proposed land for the proposed ‘phantom’ new hospital lies in an area prone to flooding...so to quote you again on ‘progress’ from your statement above...is that ‘good progress’??

Furthermore, I would like to suggest that you read our comprehensive website, and also read the ‘facts’ in the ‘Hospital and Health Care at Pambula’ Report.We, that is, everyone in the Bega Valley Shire would like to see a NEW HOSPITAL.

Our Priority and yours should be to SAVE both THE BEGA HOSPITAL & PAMBULA HOSPITAL, until we get a government that knows what their doing.

In closing, I would like to stress that we as a community have shown to be passionate in saving our Pambula Hospital, a far cry from what we have got back from the GSAHS, NSW State Health Department and (5) FIVE HEALTH MINISTERS.

Editor: Steve Whan - you need to fix this. The many letters received for publication on this website regarding your erroneous and insulting remarks indicates that you are fast losing a battle you might need to win if you want to be re-elected.

Originally published on page 5 of the Eden Magnet of Thursday 01 July 2010

David Gazard, Liberal campaigner for Eden Monaro learns of SOHInc.

NO hospital

It appears plans for the much-talked about new regional hospital have been put aside.

Information has come to light that after the government was outbid for land at a recent auction, an offer from the successful bidder to subdivide 50 acres of land the government wanted was rejected and plans set aside.

Of the money allocated for land purchase and planning (about $3.5 million) some $2 million remains.

That money, according to reliable inside information, has now been reallocated and is no longer available for either land or further planning.

Addition 05 July 2010 - Editor: An ignorant throw-away line by a severely out of touch Steve Whan attracted the attention of some readers.

“I have consistently advocated the need for a new single Bega Valley hospital, and because of that we do have a commitment and we have made good progress on planning,” he said.

“I will continue to support building a new hospital even though that task is made more difficult by the constant political point scoring from the opposition and the shortsighted campaigns being run by some supporters of Pambula hospital.”

Steve, you need to come clean on this. Name the supporters your claim denegrates. Provide evidence of how any person you name has run a "shortsighted campaign" to cause there now to be no funding for the construction of a new Bega hospital. Your thoughtless insensitivity on this issue needs explanation, particularly in the context of an up-coming election. Please take that opportunity. Email info@savepambulahospital to have your answers published on this site.

Views endorsed

Regarding the letter to the editor (BDN15/) about Bega being the only site for New Hospital. Graham Pettigrove of Pambula has responded and I fully endorse his views.

1. Frankie J Holden was approached by Save Pambula Hospital Inc. and we are grateful for his assistance.

2. The Bega proposed new hospital site being Kerrison’s Lane has flooded twice this year.
Louise may put this down to Kevin Rudd’s climate change or the NSW department of planning together with the BVSC planning department’s knowledge that this area floods and therefore is a danger to ambulance and patients.

3. Louise’s suggestion that those “Mexicans” should lobby the Federal Government to cede this area entirely would not get approval from our BVS mayor Tony Allen or general manager Peter Tegart as they would lose the “golden laying goose egg” for the Bega Valley Shire Council. The Mexicans would certainly be better off under the Victorian state health system rather than the NSW state health system.

4. To suggest that the 2006 ABS census figures are fictitious (is wrong).
I will gladly present Louise with actual figures from mid last year and currently being presented to the State Health Minister.
We are also awaiting explanation and factual evidence of decisions made by the NSW department of planning.

5. The Mexican residents, ratepayers and tourists alike would all like to see a new Regional Hospital, but when or where is not the priority. The priority remains that we maintain the current Bega Hospital and Pambula Hospital is fully maintained and restored of all services including maternity.

Report shows rising demand for hospitals

A community group campaigning for the retention of services at Pambula Hospital has presented a report to the Bega Valley Shire Council in South East New South Wales.

The report states that the Shire's population is increasing, particularly in the southern coastal areas, and that it will continue to rise.

The Sapphire Community Hospital Group commissioned the study, and the Group says the findings show a growing need for health care in the region.

The Group's Spokesman, Frankie J. Holden, says Pambula Hospital plays a key role, regardless of a regional hospital planned near Bega.

"Even if it was going to be up and running by 2012, the day it opened it would be obsolete," he said.

"There's not enough beds, and there are not enough services to cover the Bega Valley Shire.

"It's ten years old, that proposal, so that proposal needs to be re-thought in the light of the findings of this report."

Mr Holden says there will be more demand for hospitals, and existing facilities should not be replaced.

"Our group is totally, 100 per cent behind a new Bega Hospital, we should have a new Bega Hospital," he said.

"But it will only work if it's used in conjunction with a facility at Pambula Hospital.

Attention all registered midwives and general nurses

Save Our Hospital Inc. is seeking expressions of interest from midwives and general nurses who would be willing to work at Pambula District Hospital IF maternity services were to be returned.

This is not an offer of employment.

It would be helpful to understand if there were any circumstances which would exclude you from considering employment at PDH at this time.

All replies will be treated in strictest confidence.

Please reply to
Save Our Hospital Inc
PO Box 35
Pambula 2549

‘Give Pambula same chance as Bellingen’

The Pambula Hospital action group, Save Our Hospital Inc (SOHI) is pointing to a reversal of health and maternity policy at a Bellingen, NSW hospital as a model for Pambula Hospital.

SOHI president, Geoff Dove, said: “The story of Bellingen’s loss of services and that community’s fight for service restoration is virtually identical to our situation at Pambula Hospital.

“But just last week, in a remarkable turnaround, Chris Crawford, CEO of the North Coast Area Health Service announced that Bellingen Hospital will have its maternity service restored as soon as appropriately qualified nurses can be employed there.”

Mr Dove believes that the same show of good faith should be demonstrated at Pambula.

New Director of nursing and midwifery for Bega Valley

Bega Valley’s recently appointed Director of Nursing and Midwifery is a registered nurse of 17 years, Nicole Tate.

Ms Tate, who had been acting in the position for several months, said she is finding the job both rewarding and challenging.

She said supporting nurses and midwives as well as fostering their professional development are among her priorities.

"I very much enjoy working in a team setting that supports nurses and midwives in their professional environment and ensures safe clinical practice.

"I am also passionate about establishing a workforce culture that looks at building capacity from the ground up. I want to make jobs rewarding and provide career opportunities.

"We have a wonderful, dedicated group of nurses and midwives working at Bega and Pambula. Our priority is to build a strong team to provide good patient care,'' she said.

Ms Tate said there are now nearly 160 nurses and midwives working at both sites.

She said she is looking at the vision of nurses for the Bega Valley, a professional development system that will support the requirements of national registration and implementing the state wide Essentials of Care program (EOC).

"The EOC program engages nursing and other clinical staff to improve the experience of patients and achieve cultural change in the workplace.

"The program aims to do this by looking at all aspects of patient care, identifying opportunities for improvement and helping nurses to work together on these improvements," she said.

"I enjoy meeting staff and welcome their feedback and innovative ideas. I work from Pambula on Thursdays and during the other days of the week I'm at my Bega office located on the ground floor of the hospital," she said.

Ms Tate said she is happy for nurses and midwives to talk with her about improvements and providing good patient care.

Editor: Congratulations Nicole and welcome. Our hope is that your confirmation in this position will enable nursing and midwifery administration at both hospitals to demonstrate a new level of professional integrity, wisdom, fairness and transparency that will encourage many who have left the service to return.

Bega District News Rejoins the Pambula Hospital Debate

Thank you for reopening the issue of Pambula Hospital. It has been some time since Bega District News has afforded space to that matter.

After reading the letter titled “Bega only site for the new hospital”, (BDN Tuesday 15 June 2010, p.4) several friends suggested that I should not respond. My view differs. I believe that, like graffiti on a public toilet wall, vandalism of the kind in this letter must be hosed down, or more will soon appear.

1 That all significant geological and meterological events are caused by climate change
2 That climate change causes all people to migrate
3 That all coastal dwellers will migrate inland
4 That Bega’s population will grow as the result of this migration
5 That this will make Bega the Valley’s life-centre
6 That therefore a new hospital is needed in Bega
7 That a new hospital in Bega will make Pambula Hospital unnecessary
8 That ABS 2006 census figures are unreliable
9 That all NSW dwellers are self-interested
10 That the use of racist jibes is forgivable
11 That it is right to exclude outsiders.
12 That the south of our Shire is inhabited mostly by wealthy Victorian retirees
13 That the Pambula catchment is well supplied with doctors and medical specialists
14 That these medical professionals are motivated only by profit.

It is difficult to understand or agree with anything claimed by assertions 1-5. With no coherent argument of any value these paragraphs quickly lose their meaning and any message dissolves.

Assertion 6 has long been argued by all residents of the Bega Valley. The charter of Save Our Hospital Inc. when it was first voiced in December 2008 included Bega Hospital as an essential element. Supporting the new hospital is a fervently held goal that has been emphasized repeatedly ever since.

Simultaneously SOHInc. has fought vehemently for the restoration of services at Pambula Hospital in the clear and proven knowledge that, contrary to assertion 7, it is vital to the safe and sustainable provision of health care across the whole of the Far South Coast. Its continued contribution better enables the present Bega Hospital to fulfil its function. It must always be maintained to ensure the success of any future new hospital, the current plans for which have already been found inadequate.

Assertion 8 challenges the accuracy of the Coote/Kasper report. A detailed breakdown of the census figures is provided in Section 2 of that report. Pages 10 – 21 deals with “The Demographics of the ‘Pambula Catchment’”, and appendix A4 , page 56, “Population Forecasts” are provided. That report has been available from this website since it was launched.

The generosity of Far South Coast residents, in fact all NSW residents, so maligned in assertion 9, was never so clearly observed as in their response to the plight of the Victorian bushfire victims in 2009.

Assertion 10 has most recently been disproven through the Timana Tahu/Andrew Johns debacle.

In its most aggressive form the attitude behind assertion 11 ignited the Holocaust. Less horrific but none-the-less inhumane and ungodly, the same attitude has been recently used by ultra-right wing political radicals to demand the deportation of incomers to Australia of different colour, class and creed. Combined with 11, assertion 12 displays social insensitivity equal in its toxicity to any assessment by the Ku-Klux Klan.

Assertion 13 might well be the truest observation in the letter of June 15. Assertion 14 however is far from accurate, a fact that its author will gratefully acknowledge if ever she is so unfortunate as to experience ill-health anywhere between Wolumla and 100km west of Genoa.

My hope is that this reply will encourage the many Bega residents who believe in and want to achieve a proper level of health care for all Far South Coast residents will re-read the letter of June 15 with eyes open, not blinded by the bias its author demands.

Strengthening Health Service Delivery on the Far South Coast

With John Della Bosca, Heather Gray and Ken Barnett all gone from the administration of GSAHS; the imminent prospect of Federal control over some aspects of health service delivery; and a NSW State Government desperate to rapidly regain and retain some semblance of respect from the electorate before March 2011, decisions taken by Eastern Sector Management could well develop a different flavour from the bitter tasting, indefensible nonsense dispensed over the past two years.

The coincidence of these three conditions has handed SOHInc. a fertile opportunity to re-state its case for the restoration of maternity services at Pambula Hospital. In fact there is currently more strength in that case than has ever been present before.

While there are now no GP/obstetricians living in Bega, there are five such qualified and experienced practitioners living in the Pambula area who are available to assist women in childbirth.

Bega Hospital has been long renowned for its excellence in orthopedic medicine. Pambula Hospital should be encouraged to develop as the local center of excellence in obstetrics.

Good business managers in any field use available resources to create strong, viable environments supporting further growth.

Cooperation between Bega and Pambula Hospitals in this way could immediately strengthen the provision of health care on the Far South Coast and pave the way for further development.

GSAHS Wants to Hear Your Concerns

Greater Southern Area Health Service has established a ‘1800’ number for patients and consumers who wish discuss concerns they may have with their care.

Supporters of the Save Pambula Hospital movement and others who now wish to communicate their growing dissatisfaction with GSAHS intransigence regarding its determination to downgrade Pambula Hospital should continue to contact Karen Lenihan.

Third Lieutenant of the "GSAHS Titanic" jumps ship

Rumor has it that Ken Barnett, General Manager, Eastern Sector, Greater Southern Area Health Services has followed his boss and has repositionecd himself prior to the bureaucrats bun-fight that will follow PM Kevin Rudd's health reform announcements, and the federal election later this year.

Support for ‘Save Pambula Hospital’ Campaign

Over the last 2 years the Wonboyn Lake Ratepayers Association at the request of the Wonboyn Lake Community has been corresponding with Local, State and Federal government to let all the levels of government know that we are very unhappy with the proposed closure of Pambula Hospital and the reduction of services that had occurred at Pambula.

At the recent Wonboyn Lake General Meeting it was also suggested that our community would be happy to provide support to the central campaign group. Your work in publicising the issue and raising the concerns with Government are much appreciated by our community.

The purpose of this letter is to congratulate you on your efforts and to establish a link with you and to offer our support if and when needed.

Maternity Services still at Crisis Point in the Bega Valley Shire and Beyond

Maternity services continue to deteriorate. Expectant mothers from the Bega Valley Shire and beyond are forced to give birth to their babies by travelling to either Canberra, Queanbeyan, Cooma, Moruya, Bega, and even Bairnsdale adding financial and personal stress to families in terms of travel, accommodation, work commitments, and child minding arrangements to name a few.

Let alone the imminent danger and fear of these expectant mothers to give birth on the side of the highway or an isolated rural road.

While this situation is bad enough Greater Southern Area Health Service (GSAHS) continues to totally mismanage maternity services by the ongoing use of outside locum obstetricians from Sydney and Canberra at Bega District Hospital’s single birthing model at huge taxpayers’ expense to carry out maternity services as required.

In some cases there has been no GP Obstetrician on duty for the birth of a baby which could have serious implications on the wellbeing of both mother and baby.

GSAHS continues to ignore the community’s call for the full restoration of maternity services at Pambula District Hospital (PDH).

It’s a well known fact nationally that Pambula District Hospital is at the forefront for Australian Rural/Regional women for maternity services.

PDH has 9 Visiting Medical Officers, 4 of which are GP Obstetricians, who are literally being shunted aside preventing the usage of their qualifications, expertise, and personal knowledge gained by their “hands on” experience over many proven decades. The consequences of which is harming the close relationships with their patients and their own local community .

It is also a well known fact that the return of maternity services to PDH will provide a much safer and more economical birthing model for expectant mothers.

However GSAHS still persists in their stubborn attitude with more heavy spending of taxpayers’ money on imported locum obstetricians, outweighing the more sensible and realistic return of maternity services at PDH.

GSAHS continues to show a selective hearing approach to our vast community and beyond.

22062 petition signatures for the full restoration of health delivery services at PDH including maternity cannot be wrong.

Positions vacant at hospitals

The search is on for a new manager and director of nursing for the Macksville and Bellingen River District Hospitals.

In February, Ms Zirkler added the roles at the Bellingen Hospital to those she already held at Macksville after the shock retirement of Vince Carroll who did not return from a holiday break.

Extract from a previous article - Zirkler running Bellingen hospital

The North Coast Area Health Service has confirmed that Ms Jenny Zirkler who is currently the Acting Executive officer and Director of Nursing for the Macksville District and Bellinger River District hospitals will continue in that role following the retirement of Vince Carroll.

The Area Health service said Mr Carroll had left the position in order to take a break and spend more time with his family.

Premier Rakes In Budget Surplus

The beleaguered Keneally Government will give itself one last chance to woo deserting voters - with NSW Treasurer Eric Roozendaal to deliver a surplus in a better than expected State Budget this week.

Flush with funds from the property market revival, gaming taxes and a fire sale of public assets, the Government will have a slush fund to fast-track projects while it talks up its responsible economic management.The Budget is the last roll of the dice for Labor before voters head for the polls in March next year.

Desperate to win back a growing mob of disaffected voters, the Government will embark on a spending spree involving projects that can be facilitated in quick time and attract votes.

Suggested Action on the Coote/Kasper Report

As you know the story of Bellingen's loss of services and that community's fight for service restoration is virtually identical to our situation at Pambula Hospital.

Yesterday in a remarkable reversal of form Chris Crawford, CEO of the North Coast Area Health Service announced that Bellingen Hospital is to have its maternity service restored as soon as appropriately qualified nurses can be employed there.

Now don't get too excited. Ex CEO of GSAHS, Heather Gray or Ken Barnett, General Manager, Eastern Sector, GSAHS could easily have announced potential resolution of the Pambula Hospital situation in this same way eighteen months ago had either chosen to show the slightest sensitivity to prevailing public concern.

Yet while ever NCAHS or GSAHS bureaucrats define the criterion "appropriately qualified", any promise of restoration could be denied forever. After all, as has been amply demonstrated, they write the rules, they umpire the game, and if they look like losing they shift the goal posts.

Nevertheless, SOHInc. should locate and encourage appropriately qualified nursing staff to indicate willingness to work at Pambula Hospital.

Given the situation described in the Coote/Kasper report (3.23-3.24, p.35 then more generally to p.40) this task may not be easy. It may be that other changes must take place first. If that is so then SOHInc. should not shirk that responsibility.

As soon as SOHInc. can show that Pambula Hospital could have VMOs including GP/Obstetricians and anethsetists, dedicated maternity beds, a theatre and appropriately qualified nursing staff all ready to serve, no reasonable authority could deny restoration of its maternity unit.

With our desperate NSW State Government now convulsing from death spiral manoeuvers in search of support (see above article) the time seems right for SOHInc. to engage proactively in furthering our community's cause. That is one challenge the Coote/Kasper report has set us. It is one SOHInc. can answer.

NCAHS leads the way for GSAHS turnaround - Bellingen Hospital gets maternity services

The re-birthing of maternity services at the Bellinger River District Hospital is under way.

A shortage of nurses with the necessary qualifications is all that now stands in the way of local mums having access to a fully functioning maternity service.

The North Coast Area Health Service (NCAHS) has just employed one generalist nurse with maternity qualifications but at least four more are needed.

NCAHS chief executive Chris Crawford said he doesn’t know how long the recruitment process will take.

“We are advertising on our (NCAHS) website and on SEEK but the shortage of generalist nurses with maternity qualifications is nationwide and so I can’t say how long it will take to have the five nurses on the roster that will give us the capability to provide a full maternity service,” Mr Crawford said.

“We need to have at least one of these nurses on each shift, so until we have the full complement of five, we can only offer a limited service,” he said.

“The rolling job advertisements will stay online until we have filled all five positions.”

Mr Crawford said that contrary to public perception, babies can be, and still are, being born at Bellingen.

“There were 49 babies born there in 07/08 and I believe we’ve had a few deliveries in the past few months, so in effect, the hospital has retained its maternity capabilities,” he said.

“As more nurses with the necessary qualifications are employed, we will move from limited to substantial and then full maternity services.”

The Chair of the Bellingen Health Action group (BHAG), Pia Dollmann, said the community would be overjoyed to know the vital service is being restored.

This is exactly what we wanted and it is what this community campaigned for,” Ms Dollmann said.

“We (BHAG) are now considering how we can play a part in finding more nurses with maternity qualifications,” she said. “The sooner we can attract them to Bellingen the better it will be for our community’s expectant mothers.”

Labor must provide certainty for South Coast health

Labor must end the uncertainty surrounding health facilities on the South Coast and guarantee the future of Pambula Hospital, Liberal candidate for Eden-Monaro David Gazard said today.

As media speculation continues to swirl around an impending announcement from Labor on Pambula Hospital, Mr Gazard called on Labor to make its intentions clear.

“Labor must guarantee the future health needs of the region by guaranteeing the future of both the Bega and Pambula hospitals,” Mr Gazard said. “Health is too important an issue to allow speculation to continue unchecked. People deserve certainty and they deserve the best possible care.”

Mr Gazard said that residents in the fast growing communities deserved the planned new hospital at Bega and permanent hospital facilities providing specialist services at Pambula, including emergency, maternity and an ongoing operating theatre.

“Allowing the deterioration of services at Pambula – particularly degrading specialist services like maternity – has adversely impacted on the region’s health.

“People have the right to know exactly what is planned for their health facilities.”

He added that Labor was bombarding the airwaves with millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded advertising about how its health reforms will be in the community’s good.

“It’s time to demonstrate how its so-called greatest health reform since the introduction of Medicare will benefit our community by guaranteeing the future of both hospitals and giving them the autonomy to choose their own boards.

“Population across the southern region is growing and the need for future top quality health facilities is more pressing than ever.”

New weapon in fight for hospital

Demand for healthcare services on in the local area will double between now and 2030, new research has shown.

Unlike many rural regions in NSW, this area enjoys population growth and is well supplied with qualified procedural doctors and other clinical staff, states a report launched yesterday, Tuesday.

The findings in the report entitled ‘Hospital and Health Care at Pambula’ underpin the argument for retaining and revitalising Pambula Hospital, irrespective of what new hospital facilities the NSW government may build in the region.

The report is the work of two group members eminently qualified in health and economics.

Dr Bill Coote, is a former rural Queensland GP and the CEO of the Australian Medical Association in the 1990s, and Professor Wolfgang Kasper, is a retired University of New South Wales academic and economic consultant.

The authors looked into present and future demand for hospital and health care and the supply of medical and other clinical talent in the area that has been traditionally served by Pambula District Hospital.

A shot in the arm for Pambula hospital

A report entitled ‘Hospital and Health Care at Pambula’ is a new weapon in the fight to retain and upgrade services at the ailing hospital.

However whether it has the muscle to wield any influence on the politicians remains to be seen.

The fact that the report is written by members of the Sapphire Community Hospital group may be used by some to question its independence or as an excuse to ignore it completely and that would be a pity.

The report has significant merit, particularly in its role as a discussion paper, and we acknowledge the chief architects of the report are well credentialed to have undertaken such a task.

Bill Coote, a medico, was a rural GP in Queensland, was CEO of the AMA in Canberra and is now a private consultant residing in Tathra and Canberra.

Wolfgang Kasper, an economist, lives at Tura Beach. He was professor emeritus in economics (UNSW) with a focus on applied industry consultancy and policy analysis.

The report does not make any startling findings for the informed among us but underpins a commonsense approach, which many in the community have already recognised but the bureaucrats continue to stubbornly resist.
It does quash speculation that there was a move afoot to change the hospital from a public facility into a private hospital. The low socio-economic demographic of the area has ruled that out.

The report defines the catchment area for the Pambula hospital as from Wolumla in the north out to Delegate and Bombala in the west and as far south as Cann River and Mallacoota across the Victorian border.
Its estimation of population growth favours the conservative. It has assessed the population for the catchment area in 2030 will be 28,000, which represents 1.9 per cent growth per annum. The population for that area at the time of the 2006 Census was 18,000.

The report predicts that growth in the Pambula-Merimbula-Tura area will continue in the ascendant and will outnumber Bega and the north because of the magnetic appeal of the cost for retirees and families.

10.42pm Tuesday 25 May 2010 - Sapphire Community Hospital (SCH) Group –– Press Release

New Research Shows Demand for Pambula Hospital Set to Double

Demand for health-care services on the southern Sapphire Coast will double between now and 2030, new research has found. Unlike many rural regions in NSW, our area has rapid population growth and is well supplied with qualified procedural doctors and other clinical staff. These findings underpin the sound argument for retaining and revitalising Pambula Hospital, irrespective of what new hospital facilities the NSW government may build in the region.

The research was commissioned by the Sapphire Community Hospital (SCH) group, popularly known as the ‘Hetherington group’, because it was initiated by the late Bruce Hetherington some two years ago. The in-depth investigation was conducted by two experts members, Dr. Bill Coote, a former rural Queensland GP and the CEO of the Australian Medical Association in the 1990s, and Prof. Wolfgang Kasper, a retired University of New South Wales academic and economic consultant. The authors looked into present and future demand for hospital and health care and the supply of medical and other clinical talent in the area that has been traditionally served by Pambula District Hospital. This is the area south of Wolumla, stretching into eastern Victoria. Experts refer to it as the ‘Pambula catchment’.

The population of the ‘Pambula catchment’ at the 2006 Population Census was 18,000, among them a high proportion of elderly, but also numerous families with young children. As the Australian population will continue to grow fast and as waves of retirees are now ‘sea-changing’ to the coasts with a benign microclimate, such as our area, the Coote-Kasper report forecasts that the ‘Pambula catchment’ will be home to 28,000 inhabitants by 2030 (1.9% growth p.a.). The population centre of gravity of the Bega Valley Shire will continue to shift further in the direction of the Pambula-Merimbula-Tura conurbation, the biggest such centre south of Batemans Bay. NSW Planning Department assumptions that land shortages will restrict population growth on the coast are most implausible. In addition, the seasonal tourist influx adds greatly to health-care demands. Last Christmas-January season, some 1,800 patients sought help at Pambula emergency and – despite stretched capacities – received quality attention. Indeed, many elderly visitors with chronic conditions come to our area precisely because they trust Pambula Hospital in a possible emergency.

The two researchers conducted in-depth interviews with many of the doctors in the ‘Pambula catchment’, as well as a representative number of present and former nursing staff. Of the 21 GPs practising in the area, between eight and ten have supported the hospital as Visiting Medical Officers (VMOs), so that the Area Health Service has only rarely had to rely on costly locums to run Pambula. VMO arrangements have traditionally allowed non-metropolitan communities to enjoy good local hospital care. The ‘Pambula catchment’ community has been fortunate in that many doctors have acquired and updated useful specialist skills, such as in obstetrics and anaesthetics. “What struck me in our research was the high level of intelligence and commitment to professional excellence and care for patients”, Professor Kasper commented, “as well as the outstanding calibre of clinical professionals in our area.” The hospital is an important source of community confidence; its closure would a disaster for the citizens, as well as a damaging blow to local business and real-estate values.

Of course, health care is costly and taxes to finance public hospital and health care are limited. Pambula Hospital, before its services were degraded in recent years, cost an annual $ 8 and 9 million to run. “It is clear that a small hospital like Pambula will always have to closely cooperate with other hospitals, such as Bega”, Dr. Coote said.

Taking all these factors into account, the 50-page Coote-Kasper report supports the retention of Pambula Hospital as the area’s essential ‘health hub’ and proposes some enhancements of existing facilities. Without being prescriptive, the report underlines the need for an adequate 24/7 emergency service, a dedicated children’s ward, making the operating theatre viable again by providing for urgently needed visiting specialists, and the reintroduction of more day surgery. Returning maternity and neonatal care to Pambula, thus again making use of qualified local doctors, would enhance the Hospital’s capacity utilisation and address justified community concern. The report also identified an urgent and growing need for a transitional rehabilitation unit to be built on the Pambula site. As many as several hundred, mostly elderly patients a month are returning to the Shire from out-of-area surgery and other treatment, but are not yet able to live independently at home. A rehab unit would be the appropriate way of caring for them, instead of placing them unnecessarily in scarce, costly conventional hospital beds.

The Sapphire Community Hospital group – which consists of a dozen committed local citizens who share a wide range of medical, business and management expertise –endorsed the report’s findings and hopes that the report will advance informed discussion. It should also make the relevant political and administrative decision makers understand that the fast-growing population from Wolumla to Eden and beyond depends on Pambula Hospital. The extent to which these local health needs are met will be a genuine test of the recently announced Health and Hospital Reform programme.

"Hospital and Health Care at Pambula" launched Tuesday 25 May 2010

Photo - Denise Dion MNW

Frank Holden, Sharon Tapscott, Dr.Frank Siminson and Wolfgang Kasper launch "Hospital and Health Care at Pambula"

Captain of the "GSAHS Titanic" jumps ship

After weeks of speculation and rumor it was reported this morning that Ms. Heather Gray, CEO of the Greater Southern Area Health Services has taken her opportunity to reposition herself prior to the bureaucrats bun-fight that will follow PM Kevin Rudd's health reform announcements, and the federal election later this year.

Dr Maggie Jamieson, who was previously Director, Population Health, Planning, Research and Performance at Greater Southern Area Health Service can be contacted at:

Health chief finds new work

Ms Gray has been appointed chief executive of the Sydney West Area Health Service.

She has been on secondment to the Health Department in Sydney in recent months and starts in her new job today.

Dr Maggie Jamieson will continue to act as chief executive of the Greater Southern Area Health Service.

Election contender

From digging rocks out of roads to fighting a tax on rocks for roads, it's been an interesting journey into the political realm for Eden-Monaro Liberal candidate David Gazard.

On Saturday at the Queanbeyan Kangaroos Rugby League Football Club, the Burra resident and father of three was endorsed to take the fight up to Labor for the bellwether seat.

Born in Adelaide, Mr Gazard lived in Canada for several years where he worked as a labourer on road construction projects to pay his way through university.

"I serviced machinery, digging rocks out of the road, all the things you do when you are paying your way through university,'' he said.

On his return to Australia he worked as a journalist in the Parliament House press gallery before taking up advisory roles with former Prime Minister John Howard, former Minister for Health Tony Abbott and former Treasurer Peter Costello.

After spending four years with Mr Costello, he moved into the corporate sector. Now Mr Gazard is set to compete for one of the most high profile electorates in the country.

Gazard ready to roll up sleeves

The NSW Liberal Party has selected David Gazard as its candidate for Eden-Monaro in the next federal election.

Mr Gazard who has lived with his family in the small community of Burra, near Williamsdale for the last seven years, said he had been involved with politics for the last 15 years.

He previously worked as a press secretary to John Howard, Peter Costello and Tony Abbott when the Coalition was in power.

Mr Gazard currently runs a strategic communications business and said he had campaigned for the Liberal Party in numerous state divisions.

He has also worked in the private sector as head of government relations after beginning his career as a journalist.

Mr Gazard told the News Weekly that he expected to be visiting the area at the end of this week “in the first of many visits”.

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