11.39am Thursday 02 Feb 2012 - EM
Midwife solution for Pambula Hospital explored
The possibility of having a midwife-led birthing model at Pambula Hospital has become a topic of discussion at state government level.
Director general of NSW Health, Dr Mary Foley, said in late December that the ministry would support the Southern NSW Local Health District in further exploration of the proposal.
In a media release, Dr Foley said that the Pambula community’s passionate support for the local hospital had given rise to the idea of a midwifery-led maternity service.
“The Southern Local Health District has been consulting with local clinicians and community groups about the availability of staff who could support maternity services at Pambula Hospital,” Dr Foley said.
“Coming out of this consultation, the local member has presented on behalf of the community, a list of potential available staff to support a maternity service,” Dr Foley said.
She was referring to the work member for Bega Andrew Constance did with Save Our Hospital Inc. in presenting a case for reinstating maternity at Pambula Hospital.
“The District Board has agreed that the option of a midwifery-led model of maternity care should be investigated further, and given the Ministry’s experience in this area and its responsibility for state-wide planning, it is happy to lend its support for this.
“I have asked Dr Nigel Lyons, currently acting deputy director general of strategy and resources and chief executive designate of the Agency for Clinical Innovation, to make available to the District expertise of the Ministry of Health to help explore this option on the basis of the potential staffing identified by the community.”
Source
11.20am Thursday 02 Feb 2012 - MNW - Liz McCormick
The birth of a new era for Pambula hospital?
The option of the introduction of a midwifery based model of care for the Pambula District Hospital is something that member for Bega Andrew Constance knows little about, he told the News Weekly.
“I don’t know much about it other than the fact the director general of NSW Health Mary Foley has had a look at the information provided by Save Our Hospital Inc. (SOHI) which provides a list of potential staff who could support maternity services at the hospital. It is a possibility Dr Nigel Lyons (acting deputy director-general of strategy and resources and chief designate of the agency for clinical innovation) will come down in the new year and talk to the local community and the medical staff council as to what is feasible.”
The News Weekly asked Mr Constance whether exploration of that option was tantamount to taking the reinstatement of maternity services at the hospital in a new direction.
“The thing is there is a determination to try and get back babies delivered out of the Pambula hospital. I don’t want to pre-empt anything; the mainthing is that we have at least got some movement towards a service for pregnant women.
“Hopefully this year we will see babies again being delivered out of Pambula and we are talking low-risk births only.
“I think the other thing in this is that the Local Health District is about to sign up a specialist gynaecologist/obstetrician for the Bega Valley whether that is a factor or not (in the investigation of a possible midwifery unit) I don’t know.”
Mr Constance said he had not spoken with any of the local GP obstetricians about the introduction of a midwifery unit as opposed to a return of maternity services.
“This is why Dr Nigel Lyons is going to come down. Let’s get some sensible discussion going between the clinicians and the health bureaucracy and go from there.
“This has all come about because of the information SOHI has provided to the Local Health District regarding potential staffing at the hospital enable the return of maternity services. Jillian Skinner (NSW Minister for Health) and I have always held the view if we can get the staff then let’s do it. That was said consistently and said all along. I’ve always had faith in what SOHI has been saying.”
Source
2.14pm Wednesday 25 January 2012 - MNW - Denise Dion
Continuing wait for ophthalmic surgery
Despite statements that the contract for the long-promised air conditioning at Pambula hospital had been finalised and would be going in at the end of January, it appears that there have been further delays to prevent the start of ophthalmic surgery at the hospital.
Last week member for Bega, Andrew Constance told the News Weekly that it should be ready to go “late February or early March”.
At the community meeting on the future of maternity services at Pambula hospital, chair of the board of the Southern NSW Local Health District, Eve Bosak, told the 300-strong meeting that the air conditioning would be going in during the Christmas/New Year period.
But in June this year, Mr Constance said that he hoped to see the matter “well and truly finalised within three months”.
The installation, when it finally happens, will pave the way for ophthalmic surgery to start at Pambula hospital.
Mr Constance told the News Weekly: “I have spoken to the ophthalmologist and he is set to go. Once the air conditioning is in they can set up.”
Ms Bosak told the News Weekly: “The project commenced on schedule on December 14 as planned. This is a complex project involving considerable preparatory work followed by decommissioning and removal of existing systems, installation of new systems and final reconstruction works. The project is scheduled to take around nine weeks to complete and is running according to the project plan.”
Perceived slippage of the timelines for the installation of the all-important air conditioning has been a source of frustration for the community and the Save Our Hospital Inc (SOHI) campaign group who felt that the delays were holding back the development of Pambula hospital and particularly theatre services.
President of SOHI, Sharon Tapscott said: “They have dragged their heels on this along with everything else.”
Speaking in December last year, Mr Constance said: “For whatever reason, it’s taken too long but now the contract has been awarded and it will be installed in January. The board needs to make sure that ophthalmology is ready to go as soon as the air conditioning is installed.”
Source
11.12am Thursday 05 January 2012 - EM
Midwife solution for Pambula Hospital explored
The possibility of having a midwife-led birthing model at Pambula Hospital has become a topic of discussion at state government level.
Director general of NSW Health, Dr Mary Foley, said in late December that the ministry would support the Southern NSW Local Health District in further exploration of the proposal.
In a media release, Dr Foley said that the Pambula community’s passionate support for the local hospital had given rise to the idea of a midwifery-led maternity service.
“The Southern Local Health District has been consulting with local clinicians and community groups about the availability of staff who could support maternity services at Pambula Hospital,” Dr Foley said.
“Coming out of this consultation, the local member has presented on behalf of the community, a list of potential available staff to support a maternity service,” Dr Foley said.
She was referring to the work member for Bega Andrew Constance did with Save Our Hospital Inc. in presenting a case for reinstating maternity at Pambula Hospital.
“The District Board has agreed that the option of a midwifery-led model of maternity care should be investigated further, and given the Ministry’s experience in this area and its responsibility for state-wide planning, it is happy to lend its support for this.
“I have asked Dr Nigel Lyons, currently acting deputy director general of strategy and resources and chief executive designate of the Agency for Clinical Innovation, to make available to the District expertise of the Ministry of Health to help explore this option on the basis of the potential staffing identified by the community.”
Source
9.30am Wednesday 04 Jan 2012 - MNW - Liz McCormick
The birth of a new era for Pambula hospital?
The option of the introduction of a midwifery based model of care for the Pambula District Hospital is something that member for Bega Andrew Constance knows little about, he told the News Weekly.
“I don’t know much about it other than the fact the director general of NSW Health Mary Foley has had a look at the information provided by Save
Our Hospital Inc. (SOHI) which provides a list of potential staff who could support maternity services at the hospital. It is a possibility Dr Nigel Lyons (acting deputy director-general of strategy and resources and chief designate of the agency for clinical innovation) will come down in the new year and talk to the local community and the medical staff council as to what is feasible.”
The News Weekly asked Mr Constance whether exploration of that option was tantamount to taking the reinstatement of maternity services at the hospital in a new direction.
“The thing is there is a determination to try and get back babies delivered out of the Pambula hospital. I don’t want to pre-empt anything; the main thing is that we have at least got some movement towards a service for pregnant women.
“Hopefully this year we will see babies again being delivered out of Pambula and we are talking low-risk births only.
“I think the other thing in this is that the Local Health District is about to sign up a specialist gynaecologist/obstetrician for the Bega Valley whether that is a factor or not (in the investigation of a possible midwifery unit) I don’t know.”
Mr Constance said he had not spoken with any of the local GP obstetricians about the introduction of a midwifery unit as opposed to a return of maternity services.
“This is why Dr Nigel Lyons is going to come down. Let’s get some sensible discussion going between the clinicians and the health bureaucracy and go from there.
“This has all come about because of the information SOHI has provided to the Local Health District regarding potential staffing at the hospital enable the return of maternity services. Jillian Skinner (NSW Minister for Health) and I have always held the view if we can get the staff then let’s do it. That was said consistently and said all along. I’ve always had faith in what SOHI has been saying.”
Source
11.33am Thursday 29 December 2011 - MNW Online
Midwifery unit a substitute?
The battle to reinstate maternity services at the Pambula District Hospital has taken a new turn with talk of a midwifery–led model of maternity care now being discussed.
This comes in the wake of an emphatic no to the return of maternity services from the Southern NSW Local Health District (LHD) issued on December 20.
Ministry of Health will assist District in Pambula Maternity Review Director General of NSW Health, Dr Mary Foley, has announced that the Ministry will support the Southern NSW Local Health District (LHD) in further exploration of a midwifery-led model of care for Pambula Hospital.
“The LHD has been consulting with local clinicians and community groups about the availability of staff who could support maternity services at Pambula Hospital,” Dr Foley said.
“Coming out of this consultation, the local member has presented on behalf of the community, a list of potential available staff to support a maternity service,” Dr Foley said.
“The LHD board has agreed that the option of a midwifery-led model of maternity care should be investigated further, and given the Ministry’s experience in this area and its responsibility for state-wide planning, it is happy to lend its support for this.
“I have asked Dr Nigel Lyons, currently acting deputy director general of strategy and resources and chief executive designate of the agency for clinical innovation to make available to the LHD, expertise of the Ministry of Health to help explore this option on the basis of the potential staffing identified by the community.”
Dr Foley said that the Pambula community’s passionate support for the local hospital had given rise to the idea of a midwifery-led maternity service, and the Ministry of Health was placing its support behind the LHD to further examine the concept early in the new year.
“As part of that investigation process, the LHD will continue to consult with clinicians and the broader community,” Dr Foley said.
Source
9.13pm Wednesday 28 December 2011 - MNW - Denise Dion
DO or DIE
Reports in the minutes of the last Southern NSW Local Health District (LHD) board meeting clearly indicate the LHD’s intention to shut the Pambula District Hospital down once the new hospital is built in Bega but in answer to questions from the News Weekly, chair of the board, Eve Bosak has said that there will be consultation with the community over the hospital’s future which would start after the Christmas break.
Despite the statements made at the board meeting, Ms Bosak maintains that Pambula can continue as a hospital but it appears that once again, it is the community that must come up with the answer to Pambula hospital’s future for the health bureaucrats.
She said: “The board’s intention is to begin community consultations after the Christmas break to identify options for services that are needed and wanted by the Bega Valley Shire. We would like to see some innovative thought applied to new models of care to complement the new hospital at Bega. The board has a completely open mind.”
Ms Bosak said that she did try to raise the issue of the long-term future of Pambula hospital at the Pambula hospital public meeting on Tuesday, December 13 at Pambula Town Hall but “the audience was focused on returning maternity services”.
Speaking at that meeting CEO of the LHD, Max Alexander, tried to suggest that the community look at the possibility of one larger hospital. “How might it look if we got behind the idea of a regional hospital rather than two smaller ones? Is it possible in theory and why do we need two within half an hour of each other,” he asked.
But his ideas had a hostile reception.
Under questioning from the News Weekly, Ms Bosak admitted that the Clinical Services Plan (CSP) for the new hospital states that Pambula hospital will be closed after Bega is built.
She said: “Yes, the CSP does state that. This was the original intention. However, we have had clearance from Mike Kelly and Nicola Roxon (the previous federal Health Minister) that the federal funding will not be affected by implementing an innovative model of care for Pambula. In addition
I have had confirmation from Minister Skinner that she would support innovative models of care for Pambula.
“The caveat, of course, is that whatever is done at Pambula should not take away from the service plan for Bega – i.e. should complement it.
“I have the Minister’s approval to my suggestion to obtain community views on a future for Pambula beyond the Bega build. We will contact the community after the Christmas break to advise the process. It would have been appreciated if the town hall meeting had been prepared to listen to us.”
As the fight to return maternity to Pambula hospital continues, many believe it is providing a smokescreen for the real battle which is the long-term future of the hospital itself.
The issue was largely side-stepped at the Pambula hospital meeting but there were glimpses of the LHD’s real intentions, once the new hospital was built in Bega.
Dr Alexander said: “The funding arrangement implied that Pambula hospital would close with the opening of the new hospital.”
However, one of the early speakers at the meeting, Bega Valley Shire mayor, Tony Allen, said that he had spoken with member for Eden-Monaro,
Mike Kelly who had told him: “I can confirm that the funding for Bega hospital is not conditional on Pambula hospital closing.”
While Dr Kelly’s comment of comfort which was read out by Cr Allen at the meeting, may be accurate, it doesn’t cover the issue of recurrent funding, the money that pays the ongoing costs to run hospitals, and that has to be found from the NSW budget.
Statements made by senior staff of the LHD in the agenda and reports attached to the board meeting held on Thursday, December 8 clearly indicate that it is the board’s intention to close Pambula hospital in the long-term.
As reported in the News Weekly, December 14, Dr Alexander’s report to the board on maternity services at Pambula, states: “Various statements have been made to suggest the decision on Pambula maternity is a stalking horse for the larger question of the retention or not of Pambula hospital. The implication is that if maternity is established at Pambula it will definitely remain open when the new building is completed. This scenario is not in the plan that was funded in the HHF (Federal Department of Health and Ageing, Health and Hospitals Fund) application, and is contrary to the CSP for the new facility.
The planning assumption is that maternity services will be consolidated in one site in the new hospital for reasons of staffing, efficiency and safety.”
The report goes on to say that the LHD board has the option to decide if Pambula hospital can be used for other purposes.
The future of Pambula hospital was discussed in yet another part of the board’s papers.
In a report on strategies for small sites written by LHD director service improvement, Andrew Gow and approved by Dr Alexander, there is a reference to the new Bega hospital. The report states: “In the meantime Southern NSW LHD will continue to run both Bega and Pambula hospitals, including both sets of operating theatres, but with the ultimate goal of consolidation of services into the newly built Bega Valley Health Service.”
Source
1.31pm Thursday 22 December 2011 - EM
Medical staff sign up for maternity at Pambula
Member for Bega Andrew Constance has sent a list of 10 names of local medical staff to the Director General of Health in the hope a staffing model can be found to restore maternity services to Pambula Hospital.
After last week’s emotional declaration at the Save Our Hospital Inc public meeting in Pambula he, along with NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner and community group Save Our Hospital Inc, have compiled a list of local medical staff willing to be involved in maternity services at Pambula, services which were centralised to Bega in 2008.
“We’ve compiled a list of names that was sent to the Health Minister last Thursday,” Mr Constance said.
“That list consisted of three GP/obstetricians, one anaesthetist and six midwives.
“Now, the director general of health will be assessing an array of models and coming back to us in the new year.”
This next step in the long running battle for full services at Pambula Hospital followed a decision by the Southern NSW Local Health District (SNSWLHD) on Thursday, December 7 not to restore maternity services to Pambula.
Mr Constance said that although the matter was now out of his hands, he trusted minister Skinner would handle the names with the strictest of confidence and hoped to see the decision overturned.
“Eve Bosak (chair of the board) needs to have some comprehension of what local people need instead of deciding for us - that’s why I intervened and Jillian Skinner became involved.
“I’m hopeful they’ll be able to come up with at least one model to allow birthing mothers back to Pambula hospital, because that’s just the way it should be.”
Last Friday the Bega Medical Staff Council told the ABC South East it supported the decision by SLNSWHD not to reinstate maternity at Pambula.
Co-chairman of the council Gabe Khouri believed the workforce was not able to support two maternity units and said any proposal to reopen it would need careful scrutiny.
Source
4.17pm Wednesday 21 December 2011 - MNW - Liz McCormick
Return of services is key to survival
The long term survival of Pambula District Hospital presented a challenge, but not one that was insurmountable, said Member for Bega Andrew Constance.
In questions put to him by the News Weekly about the hospital’s future, he could not offer certainty but its best safeguard would be to have the hospital fully operational including maternity services, he said.
“What I am saying we should deal with the immediate challenges and that includes getting maternity back.
“If we get the services in, get opthalmology started, get maternity back it will put the hospital in a much stronger position to withstand any buffeting.
“Trying to get services back should be the first step instead of looking for guarantees of long term survival. Things are not constant; things change and in 5 years’ time who can accurately predict what will be the shape of health services.”
Mr Constance said comments by the CEO of the Southern NSW Local Health District Dr Max Alexander that placed a question mark over Pambula hospital’s future was not news to him.
“The former NSW Labor Government’s submission to the Federal Government to secure funding for the regional hospital was predicated on the closure of Pambula hospital,” Mr Constance said.
“I do hope we see with the opening of the opthalmology unit at Pambula in the new year renewed confidence in the viability of the hospital.”
Mr Constance said the health bureaucrats present at the public meeting would have witnessed first-hand the passion of the community
“They learned how incredibly passionate the community is in the southern end of the shire. It doesn’t shy away from a fight and it doesn’t roll over to the demands of politicians or bureaucrats, that is the strength of the local community and it should be celebrated,” Mr Constance said.
Source
4.27pm Wednesday 21 December 2011 - ABC News
Doctors Back Bega for Maternity - Again
After all the talk this week about what it would take to return maternity services to Pambula, the Doctors on the Bega District Hospital Medical Staff Council have come out in support of one maternity service at Bega.
This is not a new position for the Doctors and co-chair of the Medical Staff Council, Dr Gabe Khoury explains why splitting the maternity service across two locations will weaken both.
Since Bega Hospital can offer a high dependency intensive care unit, 24 hour on site pathology and blood bank availability, stable midwifery workforce, specialist obstetrician service and at least four people able to perform caesarian sections, is there really any choice asks Dr Khoury. He also comments on the need to move on from this divisive issue.
Source
12,02pm Wednesday 21 December 2011 - MNW - Liz McCormick
The fight now switches focus from maternity to survival
The public meeting revealed more about Pambula hospital than expected, Merimbula GP obstetrician and ardent hospital campaigner Frank Simonson said in an interview with the News Weekly after the meeting.
“We flushed them out; it is now abundantly clear their end game is to close Pambula hospital,” Dr Simonson said referring to comments made at the meeting by Southern NSW Local Health District Board CEO Dr Max Alexander.
“The funding arrangement implies Pambula hospital would close with the opening of the new (Bega) hospital,” Dr Alexander said during the meeting. (Refer to story ‘Passions run high at meeting’ Page 5 for more of what he had to say.)
Dr Simonson said: “The admission that it was always the intention to close Pambula hospital was an honest revelation about what we had all thought for some time. Now that it is out in the open it is incumbent on the state government to make the future role of Pambula hospital clear and that in my view means that they absolutely have to maintain services and enhance services rather than scurrying around as they have been doing
with the intent to close it.”
Dr Simonson suggested that if the hospital were to close it would cause a fall in property prices and this would affect the Bega Valley Shire
Council’s budget because it was the higher land values in this area that produced extra rate income for the council.
The other issue centred on the long-term recruitment of long-term medical staff, he said.
“They have had a problem at Bega for a long time and while we do have difficulty recruiting medical staff here it is a bit easier than at Bega.”
Dr Simonson said that the fight must now go straight to the state government.
“The minister now knows the position; we need a clear statement from the NSW Minister for Health to say Pambula is going to stay now and well into the future well past the completion of the new Bega regional hospital.”
“They (the health bureaucrats) put it on us at the meeting to come up with maternity numbers; we have got the numbers but it is more than that no-one is going to sign on for a job when the tenure is only for a couple of years. When we talk to nursing staff and to doctors the first question they ask is: ‘how long is this for, a couple of years or are we talking serious.’”
Dr Simonson said the battle to have maternity returned to Pambula had been frustrating.
“Every time we came up with a solution to a problem they (the health bureaucrats) created a new problem and the new problem they had at the public meeting was that there were not enough anaesthetists to do the job.”
Given the shift in emphasis with the focus now on the hospital’s long term survival the News Weekly asked Dr Simonson where that left the campaign to have maternity services reinstated.
“There will be a maternity service at Pambula if the minister commits to the long-term viability and survival of the hospital that now becomes the most pressing issue.
“We’ve got the numbers on the floor for maternity; we know the model of managing maternity that we prepared is good for the whole valley as we are not withdrawing maternity to Bega. We are encouraging doctors in Bega to look after patients in Bega. We are giving women a choice where they want to deliver and engaging all the staff so all of that is a positive.
“The figures show it is about what they spend now so it is a win for everybody as opposed to the continued decline in services not only from pregnant women but across the community as they see their hospital disappear.
“This is not just about maternity; it is about the chipping away of services it is one thing after another another and it has been going on for years.”
He said that all the decisions that have been made affecting the Pambula hospital now need to be looked in the light of the intention to close it.
“For example the three-year delay in installing the air-conditioning service and the debacle associated with that.”
Dr Simonson recalled the public meeting held at Hylands Corner, Merimbula in 2000 when Pambula hospital was threatened with closure. He said the hospital’s future had been uncertain since the Area Health Services legislation was enacted.
“Once they started to amalgamate the area you ended up with people running the show who don’t live locally. We’ve been dictated to by Queanbeyan and dictated to by Wagga.
“The fight is on to keep Pambula hospital and it has always been about that,” Dr Simonson said.
Source
11.58am Wednesday 21 December 2011 - MNW
Kelly suggests another use for the Pambula hospital
Member for Eden-Monaro, Mike Kelly believes that Pambula hospital should remain but not necessarily as a hospital. He told the News Weekly:
“The funding for the new regional hospital was never made contingent on the closure of Pambula hospital. Any decision is a NSW one.
“My intention would be to see a medical facility remain in Pambula; I would like to see an MPS (Multi-Purpose Service) or basic level services for everything minus maternity in the long-term. While we don’t have the new hospital I would like to see maternity at Pambula hospital. We don’t have a problem afterwards but everything else should remain.”
In reference to the funding for the new hospital, the vast majority of which was largely from the federal government, Dr Kelly said: “It is legitimate to expect, having relieved the state of so much health funding, that NSW should pull their weight.”
Dr Kelly said that the NSW Health Minister (Jillian Skinner) could override any decisions made by health service bureaucrats.
“Andrew Constance and the Minister made categorical statements (about Pambula hospital) and the community has a right to expect them to deliver,” Dr Kelly said.
Source
11.52am Wednesday 21 December 2011 - ABC News
Fraser Buchanan has a say
A former Bega Valley Shire Councillor says the Pambula Hospital is fighting an uphill battle to re-establish maternity services.
Read the source or listen to the broadcast
8.51am Monday 19 December 2011 - ABC News
Eve Bosac's call - Not enough qualified doctors !
Southern Local Health District Board has confirmed that there're not enough qualified doctors and nurses to staff a maternity service at Pambula Hospital.
Read the source or hear the broadcast
3.35pm Friday 16 December 2011 - ABC News
State Government will bypass Southern Local Health District on Pambula Hospital
The State Government says it will bypass the Southern Local Health District in determining the future of maternity services at Pambula Hospital,
Read source or hear broadcast
12.32pm Friday 16 December 2011 - ABC News
Bega doctors want end to Pambula maternity row
The Bega Medical Staff Council has revealed it supports a decision not to reinstate maternity services at Pambula on the New South Wales far south coast, saying the debate has gone far enough.
The Southern Local Health District has given the community until today to mount a case for the services, but says it is not convinced there is a sustainable workforce.
The Staff Council says the campaign is taking its toll on the morale of staff, which has proven to be devastating to the functional maternity unit at Bega Hospital.
The co-chairman, Gabe Khouri, says the group supports the Health District's decision.
“I'm not confident that there is the workforce,” he said.
“I think that any proposal would need to be scrutinised incredibly closely, to ensure that it does provide for a safe service, that no shortcuts are taken, and no corners are cut, and there's no fudging of any figures that were put together to support that case.”
‘Thousands spent’
The Member for Bega, Andrew Constance, says with thousands spent on locums in the Bega Valley Shire, there is a better way to manage the existing medical workforce.
He says the issue should be given more time.
“Let's take this slowly and let's have a look at it,” Mr Constance said.
“There's more information that's come to light by the Medical Staff Council in Pambula, above and beyond the maternity review as demonstrated at the public meeting when one doctor stood up and said that he hadn't even been spoken to by the health bureaucracy.
“So we just want to do it and work through this process methodically.”
Source
1.00pm Thursday 15 December 2011 - Eden Magnet - Amanda Stroud
Pollies roll up sleeves to cut through red tape
Member for Bega Andrew Constance and NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner have taken on the health bureaucrats and are working to cut through red tape in a last ditch attempt to have maternity services returned to Pambula District Hospital.
The politicians will be burning the midnight oil - assisted by local community advocates from the Save Our Hospital Inc (SOHI) group - to crunch the staff numbers needed to safely restore the maternity service that was centralised to Bega in 2008.
The move is a resounding rejection of the recommendation by the Southern NSW Local Health District (SNSWLHD) Board delivered lastThursday, December 8 to not restore a maternity service to Pambula.
The primary reason the SNSWLHD gave for not restoring the maternity service were doubts over the sustainability of the local workforce to cover 24/7 theatre nurses, midwives, GP obstetricians, anaesthetists and neonatal care, with related concerns over the safety of mothers and their babies.
It is understood that Eve Bosak, chair of the board phoned Member for Bega Andrew Constance on Thursday evening to inform him of the board’s recommendation.
Mr Constance spoke with the Magnet following that call.
“The board made their decision based on only two GP/obstetricians indicating availability.
“The government is very keen to seek information about staffing the roster and will reverse the board’s decision if it (staffing levels) can be achieved.
“The safety of expectant mums and babies is obviously paramount to doing this but the notion and concept that they wanted to spend up to $1.7M on Pambula Hospital to be able to do it is ridiculous.
“We’re not talking about the building of a new service but about the restoration of an old service,” he said.
Mr Constance also indicated his annoyance with an apparent reluctance to reduce spending on locum services to staff the Bega maternity unit.
“I think the enormous amount spent on locums (over $750,000) has added to the financial woes of the health district.
“There doesn’t seem to be any effort on Eve Bosak’s behalf to reduce locum costs.
“It does say very clearly (in the board papers) that reducing locum obstetrician costs would certainly free up recurrent funding. Well, why wouldn’t we do it? “We’ve got access to local people wanting to provide a service and yet we’re bringing in locums at an enormous cost,” Mr Constance said.
This week the debate continued at a marathon three-hour public meeting called by community action group SOHI and held in a packed Pambula Town Hall on Tuesday evening.
At the meeting over 200 members of the local community expressed their outrage at the board’s decision.
Those gathered listened to speakers including Bega Valley Shire councillor Russell Fitzpatrick, mayor Tony Allen, president of SOHI SharonTapscott, Eve Bosak, SNSWLHD chief executive Dr Max Alexander, chairman of the working party Dr John Gallichio and Merimbula GP obstetrician Dr Frank Simonson.
Community members had the opportunity to question all the speakers.
A recurring theme to the questioning was doubt that the board had been thorough in their fact-finding to support their decision.
This doubt was supported when local anaesthetist Dr Geoff Thomas said “It’s easier to attract doctor’s to work at Pambula Hospital than to work at Bega.
“This is a desirable area in which to live and work. I have another doctor doing 12 months of anaesthetics who has joined my practice. Why hasn’t the board asked me about availability of doctors to support a return of services to Pambula?”
Dr Frank Simonson cast further doubt on the board decision, and assertions that it had consulted with local doctors about staffing of a reinstated maternity service to Pambula.
“The Bega maternity service is almost entirely run by locums,” he said.
“That’s a disgrace,” Dr Simonson said.
“I was on the working group. It’s completely wrong to suggest that the doctors on the working group recommended the service not be returned.
“At the end of the day, we voted the government in.
“We have a member of the government here tonight. He can direct the board to reinstate maternity.”
Andrew Constance restated the NSW government’s commitment to keeping Pambula Hospital open, including the emergency department, and reinstating maternity services if it could be done safely.
“I’m making it clear here and now,” he said.
“I’m backing (Dr) Frank Simonson because I know he is right. I want the names of those people who can support a maternity service at Pambula, the midwives, the doctors, all of them. Those names are to come to me directly to provide an extra layer of safety for those individuals,” he said.
“The emergency department at Pambula is staying open.
“The air conditioning unit is being installed and ophthalmic surgery will start in the New Year.”
What is also clear is that this debate will continue for some time yet.
Source
12.50pm Thursday 15 December 2011 - Eden Magnet - Amanda Stroud
Community condemns health board
It took a marathon three hours of passionate debate and questions and answers, but in the end, the local community overwhelmingly rejected the findings and recommendations of the work done by the Southern NSW Local Health District Board and the latest investigation into returning maternity services to Pambula District Hospital.
The rejection came in many forms.
Polite heckling during the meeting included shouts of “We don’t trust you”, “Same horse, different jockey”, but the mood of the meeting was made crystal clear when a motion was resoundingly passed at its conclusion.
Tura beach resident and retiree Jon Gaul proposed the motion.
“I moved that this public community meeting has no confidence in the Southern NSW Local Health District Board, has no confidence in its chief executive and no confidence in the management of the Southern NSW Local Health District,” Mr Gaul said on Wednesday.
A show of hands confirmed overwhelming support for the no-confidence motion from those at the community meeting.
“I was disappointed that Max Alexander (chief executive of the local health district) basically informed us (at the meeting) that he wants to close Pambula Hospital by making it crystal clear that it would not be a procedural hospital. “He also washed his hands of any actions of the former health service.
“That was the last straw for me so I moved the motion of no confidence.
“I think now (NSW Health Minister) Jillian Skinner is running a high risk of being seen by the local community as not delivering on her election promise.
“It was March 7, 2011, when Jillian Skinner stood outside Pambula District Hospital and said ‘You have the facilities, you have the resources. If we are elected, maternity will be returned to Pambula District Hospital. It will only be a matter of weeks, not months or years’.”
Mr Gaul voiced the belief of many at the meeting when he said: “Eve Bosak and her board and chief executive don’t want to return maternity toPambula and they won’t do it. They’ll snow the minister with the ‘safety’ argument. Because they closed down maternity, now they want to impose a Rolls Royce model to reinstating it. As Dr Frank Simonson pointed out at the meeting last night, if the new standards for Pambula were applied across NSW, half the maternity units would have to be closed down.”
“If Jillian Skinner wants to be remembered for that, then so be it.
“Only the minister can restore maternity services to Pambula now if the bureaucrats won’t.”
Source
8.01pm Wednesday 14 December 2011 - Jon Gaul
Community's trust broken by the bureaucrats
The Hon. Jillian Skinner MP
Minister For Health
Level 3, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place
Sydney NSW 2000
14 December 2011
Dear Ms Skinner,
Thank you for your letter of 8 December 2011 (ref. M11/2391). You advise me that:' the government's reform agenda is about getting the right structures that will deliver better health care.' I hope this agenda is achieved, as patients in regional NSW currently suffer far worse health outcomes than their counterparts in 'SNW' (Sydney/Newcastle/Wollongong). This is true across the major causes of mortality, particularly the leading causes related to heart disease, stroke and cancers.
In this regard I find it strange that the individual in charge of infrastructure and planning for the new $170m Bega Hospital (hopefully due to start up in 2016) is an 86-year-old Canberra-resident man whose daughter is the permanent head of the Federal Health Department (even High Court judges must retire at 70 and political parties will not endorse first time candidates past 70). Charles Halton is a notorious opponent of Pambula Hospital who wants it closed down. His reinstatement to the Southern NSW Local Health District Board looks very much like an endorsement of that position. What other reason could there be?
That position (closing Pambula Hospital) was certainly endorsed at last night's public community meeting in Pambula attended by more than 300 angry residents by the Chief Executive of the Southern NSW Local Health District, Dr Max Alexander. Dr Alexander made it crystal clear that he wants to see the end of Pambula as a procedural hospital and that all procedures should be consolidated into the new Bega hospital. At the same time, Dr Alexander washed his hands of any responsibility for the actions of the former Greater Southern Area Health Service (such as closing down maternity at Pambula in 2008 and deliberately driving senior nurses and midwives out of the health system). As a wag in the audience interjected: " Same horse, different jockey!"
That was the last straw for me. I moved a motion of no confidence in the SMNSW LHD Board, no confidence in the chief executive and no confidence in the management of SNSW LHD.
This was carried overwhelmingly last night on a show of hands, no speakers against, only 3 to 4 people dissenting. This gave me no pleasure as a long-term (since 1972) Liberal supporter. But you and the NSW health bureaucrats must understand this the kind of business-as-usual remote management of our community's health services is no longer an option.
We were run by Wagga and Queanbeyan for years, now we are run by Queanbeyan. Neither works. We want to keep our local hospital, run by a local board. They do it very successfully at Orbost 250kms down the road. There is no good reason why it cannot be done in Pambula. Tony Abbott gets it, but unfortunately you do not and neither apparently does the Premier.
You are now at rather high risk of being seen by the local community of not delivering on your election promise to return maternity and other services to Pambula Hospital. What you said standing outside Pambula Hospital on 7 March 2011 was: " You have the facilities. You have the resources. If we are elected, maternity will be returned to Pambula District Hospital. It will only be a matter of weeks. Not a matter of months or years."
The reality is that Eve Bosak and her Board don't want to, and won't, do it. They will snow you with the 'safety' argument. (It's like Sir Humphrey - Minister, that would be a VERY courageous decision!). Because Pambula maternity was closed, Eve Bosak and Max Alexander want to impose Rolls-Royce new standards of space and staffing that do not apply at Bega maternity. As the RDA has pointed out, if the standards Eve Bosak and Max Alexander want to apply to a new Pambula maternity were applied across regional NSW, about half the remaining rural maternity units would have to close down. Is that what you want to be remembered for?
We've always thought that the health reform task in NSW would be rather Herculean and that reducing the serried ranks of health bureaucrats and their endless guidelines and reviews would make Peter Reith's cleanup of the waterfront look like a walk in the park. Mary Foley has made reductions in Sydney, but in the regions the problem is as bad as ever.
The people of the southern half (and fastest-growing) part of the Bega Shire were prepared to give the new Liberal/National NSW Government a go on the basis of the promises made about Pambula Hospital. That trust has now been broken by the bureaucrats. Only you can restore it.
Kind regards
Yours sincerely
Jonathan Gaul
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