PDH

nsw rural health alliance

A combined initiative of Save Our Hospital (Pambula), No More Bandaids Inc. (Tumut) and Bellingen Health Action Group (Bellingen)

The intention of the NSW Health Alliance is to build a collection of like-minded communities who want to share a common avenue to express their various disenchantments with the current provision of adequate health service delivery across rural NSW.	The rules are simple - assuming contributors each represent their community, are honest, and avoid both libellous statements and bad language - they can tell their story. The site's Disclaimer page regarding third party contributions would cover anything else.	Each community represents itself. It appears that many do not have an avenue such as this website to say what's on their mind. The NSW Rural Health Alliance offers that free of charge. The process is simple - contributors email info@savepambulahospital.com.
This page relates fact and opinion from communities across NSW in 2009.

5.05pm Thursday 24 December 2009

Tebbutt’s ‘Second’ Phase Health Reforms Can’t Be Taken Seriously

The second phase of Garling hospital reforms announced by Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt are a farce according to the NSW Opposition.

4.59pm Thursday 24 December 2009 - SMH

Abbott plan 'a bunch of rhetoric', says Rudd.

The Prime Minister has side-stepped the prospect of a bipartisan approach to reform of public hospital funding but reasserted his promise of a referendum if he could not win cooperation from the states on health reforms.

After the Herald revealed yesterday that the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, was expected to press for a referendum on health, Kevin Rudd would not be drawn on the possibility of bipartisan support for a change to the constitution to transfer control of health funding to the Commonwealth.

Mr Rudd dismissed Mr Abbott's plan as ''a bunch of rhetoric''. He said his Government's commitment to seeking a ''mandate from the people'' if it failed to get state agreement was ''absolutely clear-cut''.

4.57pm Thursday 24 December 2009 - ABC News Don Mahoney

Gulgong Patients defy shut-down

Long-term Gulgong Hospital patient Hamen Vile has called on the State Government to honour a promise made by former Health Minister John Della Bosca that he would not be moved.

The Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) has confirmed that the hospital will close for 10 days over Christmas and New Year and that patients will be either discharged or moved to other hospitals at noon today.

But Mr Vile, a resident of the hospital for decades, said yesterday that if GWAHS came to move him, he and other patients would refuse to leave.

“I believe this whole closure comes back to GWAHS trying to get me out of Gulgong Hospital,” Mr Vile said.

“If they get me out on Wednesday and move me to either Mudgee or Dunedoo, I believe they will then close Gulgong Hospital.

“When John Della Bosca was NSW Health Minister he said that I was to stay here and not be moved.

4.57pm Thursday 24 December 2009 - ABC News

Snowdon holds rural health talks

The Federal Minister for Rural and Regional Health has travelled to Wonthaggi to discuss problems with the healthcare system. Warren Snowdon held a meeting with healthcare professionals yesterday to discuss a report from the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission.

The Government is expected to respond to the report in March.

1.13pm Tuesday 22 December 2009 - SMH - Mark Metherall Health Correspondent

Abbott launches hospitals offensive

The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, is expected to press for a referendum on health funding reform, putting the heat on the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, over his pledge to fix public hospitals.

The Coalition is preparing to go to the next election with a promise to overhaul health funding. Its policy will include plans for direct federal funding of new local health and hospital boards, rather than funding through state governments.

The referendum push will be part of Mr Abbott's strategy to challenge Mr Rudd's credibility on his promise to ''seek a mandate'' at the next election for a federal takeover of public hospitals if the states failed to agree to his reform plans.

The Opposition health spokesman, Peter Dutton, is believed to have won approval for the plan from shadow cabinet while Malcolm Turnbull was leader.

Mr Abbott, who as health minister in the Howard government repeatedly described health funding as ''a dog's breakfast'', has told colleagues he supports the plan.

After winning the leadership this month he dismissed as ''another fudge'' Mr Rudd's pledge to seek a mandate for a federal takeover if necessary.

But Mr Abbott has opposed a direct federal takeover of health funding. The Coalition would seek to avoid shifting detailed funding decisions fromstate governments to Canberra.

Instead, federal health funding would be directed to local hospital boards so decisions could be made close to where services were delivered.

Mr Abbott is expected to face resistance within his party, particularly in NSW, to a move that weakens state powers.

Mr Rudd's promise of a staged approach to health reform is six months behind schedule, and there is little evidence that the states will agree to expanded federal control of funding for hospital out-patients and other health areas, as recommended by the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission in July.

The Victorian Government has rejected proposals for a federal takeover of funding for non-hospital services such as community health centres. But NSW dropped its proposal for a more regionalised approach to funding.

At the Council of Australian Governments meeting in Brisbane this month, Mr Rudd was only able to announce that he and the premiers had agreed on a process to move towards reform in the first part of next year. But he said he was not resiling from his promises before the election.

This month Mr Abbott told the Herald there were too many state Labor governments and too many public sector unions relying on the current arrangements for the Rudd Government to take over health.

''I think it is hugely improbable he is going to come up with a policy we are going to support,'' Mr Abbott said.

A long-time advocate of health reform, the former senior public servant John Menadue, welcomed the chance that a referendum might receive bipartisan support. ''It would be a major step forward in my view,'' he said. ''It would still be opposed by state governments and bureaucracies, but if both federal parties endorse it, I believe they could win.''

Mr Menadue said the Government ''underestimates how sick and tired people are of the state governments' performance''.

Source

1.13pm Tuesday 22 December 2009 - SMH - Natasha Wallace

Tebbutt's new year resolutions aim to ease health hangover

The NSW Health Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, has announced her goals for the next 12 months to address the systemic problems that have plagued public hospitals for many years.

The Caring Together: Building Sustainability report outlines the second phase of the Government's $485 million response to last year's Garling inquiry, which warned hospitals were ''on the brink''. Ms Tebbutt promises further widespread reform, including quarterly publication of hospital-acquired infection rates.

However, a status report also released yesterday showed the Health Department has completed only some of the dozens of tasks to which it committed in its Caring Together response to the Garling report, released in March.

It has yet to start work on some recommendations, such as ward audits of infection control and relieving paramedics of the burden of staying with patients as they await treatment.

Commitments for 2010 include establishing regional chronic disease management services. By February, NSW Health aims to have 500 clinical support officers in roles designed to relieve the administrative burden on nurse managers. That is about double the current figure.

Medical assessment units, designed to reduce patient waiting times in emergency, will open at Tweed, Lismore, Coffs Harbour, Orange and Mona Vale hospitals, in the first quarter.

NSW Health will ''research best practice in clinical engagement'' next year after doctors' repeated complaints of being ignored.

Dr Clare Skinner of the Hospital Reform Group said clinicians felt ''nothing has changed''. ''We've had no stability at the top in NSW. It's very hard to commit to a reform agenda when the leadership changes so often. People want things to change but there's a lack of clear direction,'' she said.

Source

4.43pm Monday 21 December 2009: Government of Australia Posted on: 20th December 2009

Narrabri: Australia Invests $41.7 Million For Narrabri Health Service Redevelopment

The Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, and the NSW Minister for Health, Carmel Tebbutt, today announced that construction of the new Narrabri District Health Service redevelopment would begin soon.

Richard Crooks Construction Pty Ltd has been selected as the successful tenderer to build the new hospital.

Ms Roxon said the Narrabri District Health Service redevelopment is a partnership between the Commonwealth and NSW Governments.

“The project has a total value of $41.7 million, of which the Rudd Government has contributed $27 million,” she said.

“This state-of-the-art facility will be an outstanding asset to the Narrabri district community and will ensure the growing and changing health needs of local families are met now and into the future.”

“This is very exciting news for the people of Narrabri and surrounding rural and remote communities, including Wee Waa, Pilliga, Gwabegar and Burren Junction.”

Source

9.00am Monday 21 December 2009

Bellingen Hospital Community has joined the cyber-battle through its own site.

Click to find it.

Welcome to the information site for Bellingen Health Action Group (BHAG)*. This googlegroup site exists largely to keep the community informed of the unfolding developments around the threat to our local hospital.

The North Coast Area Health Service is currently reviewing the services available at 21 small hospitals. It appears to be a real and present danger that Bellingen River District Hospital might lose Acute Care Beds, Maternity and Surgical Services, and even the Emergency Department. Given our increasingly frequent isolation by floods, and already stretched services at Coffs Harbour, much of the community see this as a real threat to the welfare of every individual in our community.

This site is also a resource: you will find, in the files section, some pro forma letters and a contact list for politicians. We encourage you to use this information in consideration of any letter/s you might wish to to send any Politicians. We think its a good idea to send any letters to the State Health Minister (at this moment being Carmel Tebbutt) and the Federal Health Minister (Nicola Roxon), with ccs (carbon copies) sent to Shadow Ministers and the Greens Health Spokesperson and Leader as well.

Letters to politicians are particularly important during this month of December, as decisions by the State Health Minister will be made early in the New Year regarding the fate of Bellingen Hospital. Often, the most effective community protests are delivered one voice at a time: keep the pressure up! There is a politicians contact list, and a pro-forma letter below.

We have decided to use a gmail account instead of this google group to keep people informed. If you would like to be added, email bellohospitalrescue@gmail.com

BHAG's letter to Minister for Health 16 Dec 09

Easiest way to send emails to politicians

List of politicians addresses and emails - UPDATED

Pro-forma letter to Politicians

BHAG Mandate

Originally, we named our group "Bellingen Hospital Action Group". In exploring incorporation, we have decided to rename it with a wider field of reference.

Source

4.21pm Saturday 19 December 2009 - The Greens

Bellingen hospital needs a lifeline not cuts

NSW Greens MP and health spokesperson Lee Rhiannon, soon to visit the Bellingen Shire, is calling on the State and Federal governments to boost funding and resources to the Bellingen Hospital and better involve the community in decisions affecting the hospital’s future.

Ms Rhiannon, lead senate candidate for the 2010 federal election, will visit Bellingen on Saturday 21 November 2009 to meet with residents, Greens members and supporters. She is holding an afternoon public forum to discuss health and other issues.

“Local hospitals are the beating heart of any community and the Bellingen River District Hospital needs life support to ensure it can deliver the services residents need,” Ms Rhiannon said.

“There are 22 small hospitals between Tweed Heads and Port Macquarie. These are all under threat as a result of proposed cuts by the North Coast Area Health Service.

“I will be working with residents and local Greens groups to try and arrest the cuts and ensure the full funding of essential hospital services.

“The Rees government should be listening more closely to the genuine concerns local residents hold for the future of this essential service.

“People living in Bellingen, Dorrigo and Urunga are understandably fearful that the Bellingen hospital is being run down, with a view to closure.

“The hospital is suffering from neglect, with staff cutbacks and funding shortfalls creating real threats to public health, especially for accident, emergency and maternity patients.

“Residents in the Bellingen Shire, many of whom are geographically isolated, do not want to travel to Coffs Harbour or Port Macquarie to access hospital services.

“This week’s heavy rains illustrate the risks of being required to leave the Shire to access health services, with inadequate public roads which can be cut during flooding and limited public transport.

“Bellingen’s population is growing and the larger hospitals in Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie are already suffering funding shortfalls and a high demand for services.

Source

4.18pm Saturday 19 December 2009 - Busines Spectator and AAP

More money needed for indigenous health

Around $1.22 is spent on the health and aged care needs of every indigenous Australian for every dollar spent on non-indigenous people, a new report shows.

That's an increase from $1.17 spent in 2004/05, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The higher spending rate reflects the health gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, and the cost of delivering services in remote areas.

4.15pm Saturday 19 December 2009 - Essential Baby - Julie Rowbotham Medical Editor - May 11, 2009

Blue Mountains Hospital closure leaves woman screaming

A first-time mother endured a traumatic ambulance transfer after Katoomba Hospital, where she was booked to have her baby, failed to warn her of the imminent closure of its birth unit during a conversation only hours before she went into labour.

NSW Health has confirmed the Blue Mountains unit has been shut on more than a quarter of all days this year.

But despite the frequency of the closures, the hospital has adopted a policy of not advising women - even those in late pregnancy.

Belle Buttrose, whose baby was already a week overdue, spoke on April 20 to a Katoomba midwife, who told her she could give birth "at any time". But at 5am the next day when she phoned the hospital because she was in labour, she was told the unit was closing and she should go to Nepean Hospital instead.

Only after she and her husband Larry insisted she be examined at Katoomba, where a doctor realised she would soon give birth, was it decided to send her by ambulance.

"I remember being held into the stretcher with the ambulance officer holding my head and the midwife holding my leg down, and me screaming my head off," Ms Buttrose said.

She delivered a daughter soon after arriving at Nepean. She is furious the closure was not revealed, denying her the chance to make other plans and avoid the agonising 45-minute journey.

The Katoomba unit, where 199 babies have been born in 12 months, closed last July but reopened in September after community pressure.

Since then it has been plagued with shutdowns and two babies were born in ambulances after Katoomba could not accept them. A spokeswoman for Sydney West Area Health Service said the unit had been closed 36 times this year, mostly for 24 hours.

She said community consultation after last year's closure revealed that women "would rather have a service, albeit one that has to be closed some of the time".

She said some women would be "needlessly distressed" if the hospital routinely contacted them about closures, which usually occurred because there was no anaesthetist. Attempts to fill rosters continued until 4.30pm, so the unit could open despite planned closures. But if a woman asked about the unit's status the next day, she would be told.

Amy Bell, convenor of the Blue Mountains branch of advocacy group Maternity Coalition, said the unit was shut so often women were seeking care elsewhere and she believed the Government was closing it by stealth. "The hospital's not doing anything to promote itself," she said. "It makes the statistics look like no one wants to go there."

The shadow health minister, Jillian Skinner, said not informing women was "cruel" and the Government had not tried seriously to attract doctors.

Source

5.28pm Friday 18 December 2009 - ABC News

Wagga Mum says hospital bed worries going unheard

A woman campaigning for more mental health beds after her son hanged himself in a hospital emergency department says politicians are not listening.

Yvonne Berkhout has congratulated Wagga Wagga Base Hospital on its plan to spend $90,000 on a safe room in the emergency ward for mental health patients.

She says since last month's inquest into Justin's death, the family has been disappointed in state politicians' response to the call for more mental health beds.

"I've sent off so many emails since the inquest to different politicians," she said.

"No-one seems to be listening.

5.26pm Friday 18 December - ABC News

GSAHS: Health service urged to rethink budget processes

The New South Wales auditor-general is calling on the Greater Southern Area Health Service to review its budget processes and pay creditors on time.

Peter Achterstraat released a report to State Parliament yesterday after financial audits of New South Wales Health services.

He says the health service has reduced its debt but at the end of the financial year still owed nearly $23 million to trade creditors.

4.18pm Thursday 17 December 2009 - Ilawarra Mercury - Glen Ellard and Angela Thompson

Health Service Exposed: attempts to silence Illawarra doctor

Details have emerged of attempts within the region's health service to punish and silence a doctor for speaking out about a failed piece of medical equipment.

Within hours of publicly condemning the high-stakes breakdown of an outdated medical compressor at Shoalhaven Hospital, Dr Tony Fitzpatrick's comeuppance was being considered by the South Coast's top health bureaucrat, documents obtained under Freedom of Information show.

South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Health's Southern Hospitals Network general manager Sue Browbank sent an email to the health service's communications and executive services director, Alison Errey.

"So what action can be taken against Tony Fitzpatrick?" was all it said.

Editor: This behaviour typifies the totally opaque, closed-shop Health Dept. management techniques employed also by GSAHS to deny community involvement in attempts to save Pambula Hospital maternity services.

4.16pm Thursday 17 December 2009 - Ilawarra Mercury - Angela Thompson

Illawarra still waits in line for surgery

Elective surgery waiting times in the Illawarra have fallen slightly, but the drop has done little to arrest a two-year blow-out.

Performance data for the September quarter shows waiting times fell by six days at Wollongong Hospital and by about four days at Shellharbour Hospital. However the waits remain significantly longer than 2007 levels.

4.14pm Thursday 17 December 2009 - Ilawarra Mercury - Angela Thompson and AAP

SESIAHS: Why is our health service $65m in the red?

The region's health service has blown its budget by more than $23 million, ending the last financial year almost $65 million in the red.

And little of the massive spending went towards the upkeep of medical equipment, with maintenance spending less than half what it should be.

The latest indictment of South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health's balance sheet is contained in a financial audit by Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat.

4.12pm Thursday 17 December 2009 - Tweed News

NCAHS: North Coast health in more debt

North Coast Area Health struggled to pay its bills last financial year, with the amount owed to creditors hitting $21.5 million, almost double the figure from 2007/08.

The figures, released yesterday in a report by the NSW Auditor-General, also showed NCAHS’ deficit was more than $25 million.

4.10pm Thursday 17 December 2009 - Natasha Wallace Health

RNSH: Hospital axes nurse managers to cut costs

Royal North Shore Hospital has offered redundancies to five after-hours nurse unit managers working in several units, including maternity and pediatrics, raising concerns about staff being able to cope.

In the latest cuts to address a budget blowout of $63.3 million, the after-hours positions of nurse unit managers are to go by next year in maternity, the newborn care centre, pediatrics and the delivery unit.

4.08pm Thursday 17 December 2009 - ABC News

GSAHS: Health service urged to rethink budget processes

The New South Wales auditor-general is calling on the Greater Southern Area Health Service to review its budget processes and pay creditors on time.

4.06pm Thursday 17 December 2009 - ABC News

Grenfell doctor withdraws resignatio

A Grenfell doctor has withdrawn his resignation from the town's hospital after a long-running dispute with the Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS).

Dr Albadran has agreed to resume work as a visiting medical officer after a meeting with representatives from GWAHS, the Weddin Shire Council and local health council.

4.16pm Wednesday 16 December 2009 - SMH

NSW health services 'not paying on time'

Editor: No surprise here.

4.16pm Wednesday 16 December 2009 - Canberra Times - Natasha Rudra

NSAHS, CCAHS, GSAHS: Health services still in debt

NSW health services still owe nearly $70 million in late or unpaid bills, a new financial audit has found.

Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat says in 2009 only two of the state’s eight area health services were able to pay creditors within the required target of 45 days.

The worst offender was the Northern Sydney and Central Coast Area health service, which owed $15.2 million.

The Greater Southern Area health service, which includes much of the region around Canberra and the far south coast, had about $2 million in outstanding bills.

4.10pm Wednesday 16 December 2009 - Various

Maitland waiting list increases by 224 in last 12 months

The 14-year-old State Labor Government has recorded the longest hospital waiting list on record, with 66,651 patients on waiting lists in hospitals across NSW, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.

In the last 12 months the Maitland surgery waiting list has increased by 224, from 570 to 794,” Jillian Skinner said.

There are more patients waiting for surgery in NSW than ever before and it is because the incompetent State Labor Government has failed miserably to deliver for families, patients and frontline health workers.”

Port Macquarie patients waiting too long: Skinner

Dubbo patients waiting too long: Skinner

The New South Wales Opposition says new figures show emergency patients are waiting too long for treatment at the Dubbo Base Hospital.

The Opposition health spokeswoman says staff and funding cutbacks at the Dubbo Hospital are to blame for some emergency patients not being treated in time.

For much more visit

2.36pm Tuesday 15 December 2009 - Macleay Argus

NCAHS: Nurses fight Health job cuts

The North Coast Area Health Service is maintaining its line that proposed job cuts will lead to improved delivery of services, despite widespread

Last Wednesday hundreds of nurses at four major hospitals on the North Coast protested against the Health Service’s decision to continue with its planned reorganisation of staff.

The service aims to cut 400 FTE (full-time equivalent) positions within the next year.

NSW Nurses Association secretary Brett Holmes led one of the rallies in Coffs Harbour last week and slammed the Health Service for neglecting the communities it is supposed to support.

“Sites such as Ballina, Maclean, Bellingen, Wauchope, Kempsey, Dorrigo, Casino, Murwillumbah and Byron Bay lack definitive services in areas such as maternity, paediatrics, dialysis and cancer treatment,” he said.

“Kempsey Hospital still officially has a paediatric unit, but I am told has not had a child admitted for over two years.”

Source

2.22pm Monday 14 December 2009 - Northern Star - Mel Mcmillan

NCAHS cut budget to the bone

Jenny Potts, of Ballina, is in good health, but at 71 she can foresee a time when she will need medical help from the North Coast Area Health Service. And that is why she, and five of her friends, attended an emergency community meeting called by the Northern Rivers Health Care Group about the state of the health service yesterday.

“We should fight to keep it here for us,” Mrs Potts said.

The meeting was called to show support for nurses after Wednesday’s NSW Nurses Association rally against job cuts.

Lismore mayor Jenny Dowell, one of the speakers at the meeting, said the health service was ‘run down’ and ‘inadequate.’

The mayor said she was asked if she wanted to go home from Lismore Base Hospital just 12 hours after having a breast and 23 lymph nodes removed as treatment for breast cancer last October.

Cr Dowell said she was too sick to leave the hospital and was shocked she had been asked to.
“It felt like I was being rushed home,” Cr Dowell said.

Cr Dowell said nurses and doctors at the health service were under extreme pressure. Nurses Association spokesman Gil Wilson said the health service had a ‘budget before health’ mentality.

“It’s not fat any more, they are cutting into bone,” said Mr Wilson when describing the recent round of job cuts by the health service. The cuts, he said, were closing wards.

Rural health expert Dr Sue Page said people living in the country were one-and-a-half to three times more likely to die from treatable illnesses than those living in the city. Dr Page said some hospitals in the big cities had marble floors and hairdressing salons.

She demanded rural communities get their fair share of the health budget to supply basic health care services and equipment.

Britta Budden, of Casino, speaking during an open floor session of the meeting, said the town’s doctors were exhausted from covering shifts at the Casino and Distinct Memorial Hospital after the recently employed medical officer walked out.

Ms Budden said the town’s health services would not cope with an expected influx of aged people. As a result of the meeting a lobbying body will be formed.

Lismore: Blog Posted by Lobie from Goonellabah, New South Wales

After attending the rally on Wednesday 9th December 2009 in the 41 degree heat to support our nurses and the state of our public hospital, Lismore Base. I was encourage by the numbers of people who braved the hot conditions to send a message to the State Labor Government that, "enough is enough". I also attended the emergency community meeting at the Lismore Workers Club on Sunday 13th December 2009, were I was very disappointed at the poor turn out of both nursing staff and of the general public.

It was clear to me at the meeting after listening to the speakers on the day, that the Lismore Base Hospital is in crisis and is needing community support to keep services in our area. The "budget before health mentality" that the Nurses Association spokesman spoke about on the day is a real concern for all Far North Coast residents. Not only is the State Labor Government reducing services to the smaller outlying hosptials in our immediate area and putting greater pressure on our already over worked, under funded Base Hospital. The State Government expects the residents on the Far North Coast to make do with what they think we need and are not prepared to give us services and funding for what what we do need, "therefore putting lives at risk". The people of the Far North Coast should call on the Premier Kristina Keneally and Health Minister Carmel Tebbett to meet with our local members of parliament, senior hospital staff and the community to discuss the large area in which our Base Hospital has to cover and the need for the Lismore Base Hospital to be upgraded to the standard of care which people in metropolitan Sydney expect and receive.

Source

11.45am Friday 11 December 2009

Wolfgang reports that Coonabarrabran Hospital is next to fall.

Woflgang says, "If you want to see how NSW Area Health Services deal with pesky communities and their small hospitals, read this cry for help from a VMO doctor in Coonabarabran."

In a recent email he was told...

“Dear Friends,

I have just walked into the hospital at 6pm today to find a 4-bed ward shut down. Nurses tell us that 6 beds have been closed, so another 2 beds have been lost elsewhere. No doctors consulted.

Apparently the lost ward is becoming offices for community health. So much for consultation, collaboration and preservation of rural health services.

The only thing that grows (much like a cancer) in NSW Health is admin and offices. It eats away at the good tissue, i.e. hospital beds and acute services. Questions need to be asked.

Dr Aniello Iannuzzi

Sent via BlackBerry® from Telstra

11.05am Wednesday 9 December 2009 - The Land

And Kevin Humphries MP says Confusion reigns over Coonabarabran hospital

With the Coonabarabran community confused and angry over alleged service downgrades to the local hospital, Member for Barwon, Kevin Humphries believes the issue highlights an even bigger problem for the hospital, a lack of communication between the health service and the community.

Mr Humphries has been speaking with CEO of the Greater Western Area Health Service, Danny O’Connor, who categorically denied a downgrade in service at the Coonabarabran Hospital.

"I believe GWAHS is wanting to move Community Health into the local Hospital, however the fear is that the service would be moved into what is the current four bed unit, leaving the Hospital four beds short,” Mr Humphries said.

“It is unacceptable that these proposed moves are made without any advice from, or too, the community.”

“Doctors, nurses, allied and community health staff all need to be consulted in any service restructure. Community members also need to be engaged.”

He said GWAHS needed to start taking advice from the locals, and that its environment of ‘closed door’ decision-making and secrecy was jeopardising what potentially could be good ideas.

“Country communities work in a different way to in the city, we like a high degree of ownership and people want to be consulted – and so they should."

5.17pm Monday 30 November 2009 - ABC News

Bellingen: Govt urged to rule out hospital downgrade

A New South Wales mid-north coast MP says the State Government has a secret plan to substantially downgrade the Bellingen River Hospital.

The state leader of the Nationals and Member for Oxley, Andrew Stoner, says according to recent reports the hospital is being targeted for possible closure.

He says the State Government must immediately rule out the closure or reduction in medical services at Bellingen hospital.

"Well it's clear that the state Labor Government has a secret plan," he said.

"That is sheer madness. The people of the Bellingen Valley and all the way up to the Dorrigo Plateau depend on that hospital being in place.

Editor: Don't be surprised if a furniture van pulls up outside Bellingen hospital one night soon and workers load essential pieces of equipment to be relocated at another hospital. That is exactly what happened at Pambula hospital when our maternity unit was closed.

5.19pm Monday 30 November 2009 - ABC News

Western NSW: Councils demand health service answers

A group representing 17 western New South Wales councils will call on the head of the Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) to outline the future of health services.

Amid claims many services will be rationalised, CENTROC will ask the chief executive of GWAHS, Danny O'Connor, to address a meeting of the councils, which include Lithgow to Young and Wellington to Lachlan.

The chairman of CENTROC, Lithgow Mayor Neville Castle, says many councils have heard rumblings that their health services will be "rationalised".

He says individual council efforts to contact Mr O'Connor have failed and CENTROC hopes a concerted effort will result in some answers.

"From the council's point of view, if you hear your health services [are] going to be rationalised and nobody can tell you what rationalised means, I think many people probably infer or imply that rationalisation of a service means it's going to be cut back," he said.

"I'm sure that most of the smaller communities in particular are not very keen on having their health services cut back."

Editor: It is likely that "rationalised" in Area Health Service lingo means "reconfigured according to the depth of our purse after our salaries have been paid".

3.37pm Monday 23 November 2009 - Neil Rainbow

Are you listening Australia? Our health cannot wait.

It is the basic human right of all Australians to expect adequate health delivery services no matter who you are or where you live across our great land of Australia. It is our right and the right of our future generations to expect decency and support in living our lives as normal human beings.

As an ordinary Aussie bloke I urge the National Media to continue the public momentum that has sprung up so strongly from the health service delivery consequences at our local rural hospital at Pambula in New South Wales and take it on board for the rest of Australia.

3.37pm Monday 23 November 2009 - ABC News

Hunter Region: Critical doctor shortage continues

The organisation representing Hunter doctors has admitted the critical shortage of doctors across the region is leading to longer waiting times for patients.

Editor: This situation is tragic when at the other end of the State we have doctors who are not permitted by our Area Health Service to practice in our local hospital.

5.25pm Friday 20 November 2009 - ABC News - Posted Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:00am AEDT

Gulgong: Fears mine expansion could strain medical services

A proposal to expand a mine near Gulgong has raised concerns about the potential strain it could place on local medical services.

The Mid-Western Regional Council is lodging a submission on Xstrata's plans to extend the Ulan Coal Mine's lifespan by 21 years and double its annual production to 20 million tonnes.

The council is concerned the extra 400 staff being employed could put the region's already stretched medical resources under greater pressure.

5.20pm Friday 20 November 2009 - ABC News - Posted Thu Nov 19, 2009 12:24pm AEDT

Councils unite for health funding boost

Councils across the New South Wales mid-north coast region are uniting to push for a better deal for local health funding.

Kempsey Mayor John Bowell will take the issue to the quarterly meeting of Mid North Coast Group of Councils.

He wants changes to the resource distribution formula which determines how health money is shared by the state's area health services.

Councillor Bowell says the north coast is the fastest growing area in the state and it is significantly underfunded.

"The north coast is allocated 7 per cent, whilst it should be allocated 7.6 per cent," he said.

"Which in percentage terms doesn't sound like a lot but when you take the health budget that equates to millions."

Cr Bowell says the north coast health budget needs an extra $80 million a year.

"The north coast is the fastest growing area in NSW and yet it is certainly underprivileged when it comes to the distribution for funding for health services, particularly hospitals," he said.

Source

3.04pm Wednesday 18 November 2009 - ABC News

Coffs Harbour, Macksville, Bellingen, Dorrigo: Nurses reject management merger plan

A proposal to amalgamate nurse manager positions at four New South Wales mid-north coast hospitals is not supported by the nurses' association.

Union organiser Joanne McKew says the North Coast Area Health Service has made a verbal proposal for two nurse managers to oversee two sites each.

She says the amalgamation involves the Coffs Harbour, Macksville and Bellingen hospitals and Dorrigo's Multi-Purpose Service.

"It makes no sense to decimate the senior nurses throughout the area," she said.

"You get a situation where you do not have enough nursing leadership.

5.30pm Friday 14 November 2009 - ABC News

Bellingen: Health service says hospital to stay open

The North Coast Area Health Service (NCAHS) says it has no plans to close the Bellingen River District Hospital.

A meeting of the local hospital action group heard the NCAHS may have already made a decision about the hospital's future.

The NCHAS chief executive, Chris Crawford, says the hospital has been assessed and a five year plan will be released once the assessment is reviewed.

"We've got to go through that thorough review and evaluation process of our acute hospitals," he said.

"Once that is completed we'll release a healthcare services plan which will give the community a clear idea of the direction for the hospitals for the next five year period.

"The area health service is not intending to close the Bellingen River Hospital."

3.20pm Thursday 12 November 2009 - ABC News

Coolah: Nursing shortage puts patients 'at risk'

The Rural Doctors Association is calling on the Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) to urgently recruit more nurses to Coolah Hospital in central western New South Wales.

GWAHS says Coolah's emergency department remains open but patients requiring urgent treatment are being transferred to nearby hospitals because of a shortage of nurses.

For the past two nights the ambulance service has also been directed to bypass the hospital.

The association's vice-president and Coolah's only doctor, Tilak Dissanayake, says he was given less than 24 hours notice about the changes which he believes are putting patients' lives at risk.

2.58pm Thursday 12 November 2009 - Daily Liberal - Heather Crosby, 26 Oct, 2009 04:00 AM

Dubbo ‘spent decades playing second fiddle’ for health funds

Former Dubbo Mayor and State MP Gerry Peacocke has tipped a bucket on the State Government by revealing our city’s historic battle for a fair slice of the NSW health budget.

According to Mr Peacocke, Dubbo Base Hospital has spent decades battling for money, constantly playing second fiddle to Orange.

“During my years in local and State politics inequitable health funding was a major concern,’’ Mr Peacocke said.

“Orange has always received preferential treatment from the health department and despite years of argument I’ve never been able to understand why.

“Dubbo doesn’t get a fair go and it never has. It’s outrageous that Dubbo people are now being sent to Orange for treatment.

“Our hospital has excellent staff but it clearly doesn’t have enough money, people or equipment.’’

2.58pm Thursday 12 November 2009 - Daily Liberal - 24 Oct, 2009 08:54 AM

Health "fiction" uncovered by Orange budget claims: Fardell

The revelation that Orange built its health empire by blowing its budget has Dubbo MP Dawn Fardell suggesting that “our health planners could not be more exposed if they turned out in hospital gowns during a strong wind”.

In the wake of concerns that Orange’s health system was advancing at the expense of Dubbo’s, Greater Western Area Health Advisory Council chairman Dr Steve Flecknoe-Brown has spoken out.

In a letter to this newspaper, the chairman appointed by the State Government has explained that Orange’s development resulted from years of overspending under the “old regime”.

At the same time Dubbo had been fiscally responsible, he said.

“If Dr Flecknoe-Brown is correctly reported, then Orange, under the previous structure, was able to build a mini health empire by ignoring normal budgetary constraints,” Ms Fardell said.

“Successive health planners are continuing to perpetuate the outrage, concentrating services in Orange seemingly for no other reason than ‘oh well - it’s here now’.

2.54pm Thursday 12 November 2009 - Andrew Stoner MP

Dubbo Health Comes After Sydney Opera House: Stoner Questions Rees In Parliament

In State Parliament today, Leader of The Nationals Andrew Stoner questioned current Premier Nathan Rees how he could even consider spending $1 billion on renovating the Sydney Opera House when people in country areas go without vital health funding.

On the weekend the current Premier said that he was actively considering increasing funding for the arts portfolio, including up to $1 billion on the Sydney Opera House.

In Question Time today, Mr Stoner asked Rees how he could justify even considering spending $1 billion on renovating the Sydney Opera House when he has failed to provide even a fraction of that for an overhaul of Dubbo hospital.

In Western and North Western NSW, Dubbo and Tamworth Hospitals have over 1,500 people waiting for elective surgery.

4.12pm Wednesday 11 November 2009 - RDA NSW

Patient safety at risk as Coolah Hospital bypassed

The Rural Doctors Association of NSW (RDA NSW) is warning that the Greater Western Area Health Service’s decision to place Coolah Hospital on bypass indefinitely, effectively shutting down the hospital’s emergency department, will put lives at risk.

The Association is calling on the Area Health Service to work urgently to recruit more nurses at the hospital - including by recruiting temporary nurses through locum agencies - to ensure the hospital can remain open.

This is the first time in 100 years that the hospital has been placed on bypass, meaning that emergency, critical care and acute care patients will now have to travel or be transported to distant hospitals for treatment.

Coolah is an isolated, single doctor town in north-west NSW. It is 1.5 hours drive from Dubbo Base Hospital and 2 hours drive from Tamworth Base Hospital. Coolah Hospital services a population of over 2000 people, and from July to October an average of 125 emergency patients per month presented at the hospital.

4.50pm Monday 9 November 2009 - SMH

$4m for 10 bureaucrats to do rosters as nurses go

THE NSW Government will pay 10 bureaucrats an average of $100,000 a year to micro-manage the rosters of all nurses, junior doctors and allied health staff while hundreds of front-line hospital workers are made redundant to save money.

4.35pm Monday 9 November 2009 - SMH

Health bureaucrats paid to do nothing

AT LEAST 17 health bureaucrats in western NSW are being paid up to $130,000 a year to do nothing because they were sidelined when the structure of the area health service changed four years ago.

4.35pm Tuesday 10 November 2009 - ABC News

Bathurst: Cutback claims dog Bathurst hospital

Claims of further cutbacks at the Bathurst Base Hospital are persisting, despite repeated denials by the Greater Western Area Health Service.

The chairwoman of the Bathurst Health Council, Julie Ann Maher, says she has been told staff are not being replaced and training positions are being moved to other hospitals in the western region.

She says it is impossible to curb costs without sacrificing services.

12.13pm Sunday 1 November 2009 - NINEMSN -Michelle Draper

Health staff shortage 'cripples' regions

The shortage of doctors and other health professionals in rural Australia has reached crisis point with more than 18,000 workers needed to plug the gap, the Rural Doctors Association says.

President Nola Maxfield said the association calculated there was a shortage of about 1800 doctors across rural Australia.

She estimated an extra 18,000 health professionals including nurses and allied health workers were needed in rural areas.

The shortage was contributing to worse health outcomes for regional Australians, Dr Maxfield said.

"People in rural communities will tell you it's taking quite some time to get to see their doctor," she told AAP.

"Some people are travelling quite considerable distances just to access normal appointments."

Dr Maxfield said initiatives to attract doctors to rural areas had not worked.

7.55pm Friday 30 October 2009 - ABC News

Wanaaring: MP pleads for health service boost

The federal Member for Calare, John Cobb, says he is appalled at the state of the Wanaaring Health Service.

The remote town has not had medical services since the sole resident nurse left in June.

Mr Cobb says the Greater Western Area Health Service is yet to appoint a replacement for the resident nurse at the bush clinic.

"The Royal Flying Doctor Service provides a service there, so it is a town which is large enough to have ... a clinic serviced by the Royal Flying Doctor," he said.

"It is supposed to have a nurse, but it doesn't seem as if the Government or the area health service has even advertised to fill that position."

Read original

7.50pm Friday 30 October 2009 - ABC News

PM urged to keep cataract rebate

The New South Wales Opposition health spokeswoman, Jillian Skinner, says the Federal Government's ill-conceived plan to stop the rebate for cataract surgery is hurting older people in the New England and north-west.

The Opposition has revealed there are more than 13,000 ophthalmology patients on waiting lists across the state, including 180 in Tamworth, 171 in Armidale, 79 in Moree and 63 in Inverell.

Ms Skinner says Premier Nathan Rees should speak to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and urge him to restore the full rebate for cataract surgery, otherwise elderly people in rural areas will be significantly disadvantaged.

7.45pm Friday 30 October 2009 - ABC News

Bourke: Outback eye surgery to end

The Outback Eye Service will hold its final surgery in Bourke today, despite plans for a new Medicare rebate for cataract surgery.

The Federal Government's plan to halve the $600 rebate was blocked by the Opposition on Wednesday which tried to keep the current rebate beyond its expiry this weekend.

The Government is now proposing a new rebate of $340 for standard procedures.

7.42pm Friday 30 October 2009 - ABC News

Orphan's plight highlights health 'cutbacks'

The New South Wales Opposition has further criticised cuts to country health services amid claims an air ambulance was not available to transfer a baby from Tullamore to the Dubbo Base Hospital.

The one-year-old boy survived the accident last Friday night which claimed the life of a Condobolin couple.

Nationals' leader Andrew Stoner says the first person at the scene had to transport the baby to hospital herself, and then had to borrow a child seat for the ambulance as there was not one available in Tullamore.

Mr Stoner says country people are being deprived of the most basic resources.

"What we're seeing here is the symptoms of continuing cutbacks to local health services by the State Labor Government," he said.

10.11am Wednesday 28 October 2009 - ABC News

Ballina: Gathering focuses on rural health boost

A state conference is being held in Ballina today to look at ways of improving rural health.

The New South Wales Rural Health Research Colloquium will give doctors, researchers and academics the chance to discuss the problems with the rural health system.

The North Coast Area Health Service's executive director for population health planning, Vahid Saberi, says research on the needs of country patients should be conducted in regional areas instead of cities.

"Most of the research is done in metropolitan areas and then they are implemented as a strategy in rural regions," he said.

"We are trying to reverse that and say we can research and do very good research in rural Australia and learn from that and implement it for the health of the rural resident."

4.50pm Sunday 25 October 2009 - Jillian Skinner MP

The Face Of Labor’s Broken Health System:
Grandmother Waits 513 Days For Surgery–She’s Still Waiting

An 87-year-old grandmother who has been waiting more than 500 days in pain for a knee operation is the human face of Labor’s broken health system, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.

Dragica Pustahija has been waiting since 28 May 2008 for knee replacement surgery with Professor John Ireland. She is still waiting.

8.30pm Friday 23 October 2009 - ABC News

More nurses sought for Bellingen Hospital

Recruitment is about to start for more nurses for the Bellingen River District Hospital on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

The North Coast Area Health Service says next week it will advertise for nurses to work in Bellingen.

Chief executive Chris Crawford met with residents on Wednesday night to look at the Bellingen River District Hospital's future.

He says there are concerns about maternity services.

Mr Crawford says a review is under way of all acute services but in the meantime he will advertise for more nurses.

"To see if we can get some more nurses who are registered midwives but able to provide general nursing skills as well," he said.

"This had been attempted over the previous couple of years unsuccessfully.

"The community felt we should persist more even while waiting for the outcome of the review of acute services."

Mr Crawford says no concrete plans are in place for maternity services.

"The task force has completed most of its reviews of acute hospitals and has reported in and we then in turn will send a report to the Department of Health," he said.

"The community felt we should persist more even while waiting for the outcome of the review of acute services. "

8.20pm Friday 23 October 2009 - ABC News

Gulgong: Health service plans blow budget

Plans for a new health facility in Gulgong on the New South Wales western plains have blown the budget and will need to be re-developed.

The town's Health Council had been due to meet representatives from the Department of Commerce today, but the costings for the Health One centre are too expensive.

Funding of $2 million has been earmarked for the project.

Chairman of the Gulgong Health Council Peter Doran says it is another setback.

"It's extremely frustrating. We've been planning this for two years now and we still haven't gotten any further than we were 18 months ago," he said.

"It is a bit frustrating, a little bit disheartening I guess, but it's certainly made us more determined to get a Health One for Gulgong.

"But more importantly a Health One that will be in conjunction with an MPS, which is what we desperately need in Gulgong."

He says he had hoped to discuss how the plans would suit the community's needs, even if that meant adjusting the proposal.

"I thought that's what the meeting was to be about," he said.

"I personally think that what they're trying to do is give us a facility within the money that's been allocated, but unfortunately the longer this sort of planning takes, the value of the dollar becomes less and less, so we'll actually be getting less than we thought we'd be getting."

The Greater Western Area Health Service says a review of the plans will now be carried out in conjunction with the local committee.

8.10pm Friday 23 October 2009 - ABC News

Council to protest nurse staff cuts

The Goulburn Mulwaree Council has requested an urgent meeting with New South Wales Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt to oppose planned staffing changes at its local health service.

Councillors are concerned the town's Bourke Street Health Service will not be able to offer essential services if registered nurses are replaced with less skilled staff.

Council general manager Chris Berry says it is a critical service.

"Any downgrading of services or a reduction in service levels not only impacts on the Goulburn community, it impacts on the surrounding area," he said.

"And if we're looking at strong regional centres, it's important to have a good quality and a good standard of health services in rural New South Wales."

Mr Berry says the council will lobby to maintain Goulburn's health service presence for outlying areas.

"We're certainly well positioned in the northern part of that region," he said.

"[But we] provide a good hub for medical services not only... to the Goulburn community, but to the smaller communities in the northern part of the Greater Southern Health Service Area."

The Greater Southern Area Health Service says there is no plan to replace registered nurses with less skilled staff where the clinical needs of patients require skilled staff.

8.00pm Friday 23 October 2009 - Sydney Morning Herald - Natasha Wallace

Nurses left in lurch after redundancy ban

More than 60 nurses in western Sydney have been left in limbo after NSW Health suddenly barred frontline public hospital staff from taking voluntary redundancy.

The NSW Nurses Association said that some nurses had sold houses and bought businesses only to be told they could no longer leave, after the political hot potato - the loss of frontline nurses - became public.

The redundancies have become a staffing debacle, with the Health Services Union and the NSW Nurses Association repeatedly before the Industrial Relations Commission.

Unions say NSW Health has quietly stood by for several months while the area health services embarked on piecemeal voluntary redundancies to stem the $646.6 million budget blowout, saying the program targeted about 1000 health workers

8.00pm Friday 16 October 2009 - ABC News

North Coast: Surgery wait list reaches 8,000

Nationals' Senator Fiona Nash says more than 8,000 patients are on surgical waiting lists at New South Wales north coast hospitals.

Senator Nash says a recent report card produced by the Australian Medical Association shows more than 1,300 people on the Lismore waiting list and more than 1,100 at Tweed Heads.

She says those figures have more than doubled over the past five years.

7.48pm Friday 16 October 2009 - Sydney Morning Herald

Labor cannot fix hospitals

The health system is no longer deteriorating – it has collapsed. At the hands of the bungled and bloated bureaucracies, run by hapless and disgraced ministers, the health system of our once great state of New South Wales has fallen over.

The New South Wales Liberal Opposition has pledged for a Central Coast health district and health board by the end of 2011, should the state election fall to an O’Farrell Coalition Government earlier that year.

Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell has travelled across our state and knows all too well the stories of ineptitude at the hands of this tired Labor Government, which is why he has promised to overhaul the current health system and put in place district boards for hospitals and health care.

7.46pm Friday 16 October 2009 - Sydney Morning Herald

NSW hospitals facing challenges: Tebbutt

The deteriorating performance of NSW hospitals in a new report is based on outdated figures but current readings would belittle different, the state government says.

An Australian Medical Association (AMA) report shows nearly every state and territory experienced longer elective surgery waiting times and poorer emergency department performance in the 2007/08 financial year.

The AMA Public Hospital Report Card shows only 66 per cent of urgent patients presenting to NSW emergency units were seen within the recommended time - down from 71 per cent in 2006/07.

Over the same period, elective surgery waiting times rose more than 10 per cent, from 35 days to 39 days.

NSW Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt said the AMA report's figures, taken more than 15 months ago, were outdated.

7.46pm Monday 12 October 2009 - ABC News

Ambulance 'delays for seriously sick'

It's been revealed that seriously sick patients are queuing for hours to be unloaded from ambulances at busy hospitals across Australia.

Ambulance union officials say "ramping" of patients is so common at major Sydney hospitals that ambulance officers routinely order pizza while they wait, The Australian reported on Monday.

"Unfortunately, the hospitals are using the ambulances as a labour pool to look after patients because of their own staff shortages," he said. "On bad nights in various areas of NSW, we have 40 to 70 per cent of our on-shift ambulances tied up in hospitals.

"It is impairing the ability of ambulance services across the country to respond urgently to serious cases."

5.27pm Thursday 08 October 2009 - ABC News

More hospital jobs to go: ANF

The Australian Nursing Federation has released an email which reveals plans for another 900 hospital jobs to be slashed to meet budget cuts.

5.25pm Thursday 07 October 2009 - ABC News

Physio sackings a retrograde step: MP

A New South Wales mid-north coast MP says jobs have been cut from the physiotherapy department at the Coffs Harbour Base Hospital. Coffs Harbour MP Andrew Fraser says a leaked internal memo has revealed at least three staff were retrenched in August and September.

He says recruitment has only been approved for one of those positions.

8.19pm Friday 02 October 2009 - Jillian Skinner - first posted September 22nd 2009

New Health Minister Misleads on Hornsby Hospital Budget Cuts

"There are no plans to reduce the Budget for Hornsby Kur-ring-gai Hospital. We have responded to the demand for medical care by increasing the Budget for Hornsby Kur-ring-gai Hospital." Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt in NSW Parliament, September 22 2009

New Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt’s claim that Hornsby Hospital’s budget will not be cut has been contradicted by her senior bureaucrats in advice to local doctors, according to Shadow Health Minister Jillian Skinner.

“In answer to my question in Parliament today seeking confirmation of her senior bureaucrat’s advice, Mrs Tebbutt merely repeated the spin that the budget had increased this year compared to last,” Mrs Skinner said.

“However in details given to doctors it was revealed that for every dollar the Government is giving the Hospital it is taking two dollars back.

“Perhaps that is why Mrs Tebbutt qualified her claim of no reduced budget by saying: "Of course rising demand means that every Area Health Service and every hospital has to manage the health dollar wisely, of course they do."

“Mrs Tebbutt seems to hold the extraordinary view that cutting budgets and cutting front line staff is a good way to meet growing demand and meeting patient needs.

“Yesterday the Minister also defended the practice of offering redundancies and cutting numbers of frontline staff, including nurses, saying ‘growing demand means we need to ‘manage the health budget wisely, while meeting patient needs.'

“The reality is that there are over 600 patients waiting for elective treatment at Hornsby Hospital and many more wait longer than they should for emergency treatment.

“This is despite the amazing goodwill, dedication and skill of the doctors, nurses and other staff at Hornsby who put up with ‘mediaeval’ conditions.

“They are amazed that Mrs Tebbutt is denying that there are plans to cut the budget as outlined by her bureaucrats and not at all surprised at the same bureaucrat’s admission that the hospital is the most ancient and dilapidated in the State, if not the country.

”For the Rees Labor Government to deny these facts and figures is simply spin.”

Mrs Skinner said the NSW Labor Government should be investing in the State’s health system, not stripping it of funding and resources.

Read original

8.19pm Friday 02 October 2009 - ABC News - David Coady

Rural doctors demand more money

The Rural Doctors Association is calling for Australian governments to spend more on remote health to help lower high death rates in the Northern Territory.

The association is using new figures that show high death rates for suicide, motor vehicle accidents and homicides in remote areas to call for a greater investment in emergency medicine.

Dr Nola Maxfield says remote areas cannot rely on helicopter evacuations and better local care is needed.

"We need to have more doctors who have skills at treating major injuries," she said.

7.30am Tuesday 29 September 2009 - ABC News

Griffith: Riverina hospital left without ICU

The city of Griffith in the New South Wales south west is without an intensive care unit (ICU) at its local hospital until Friday.

The Griffith Base Hospital ICU has been closed temporarily from early this morning for the next few days.

The Greater Southern Area Health Service says it has been unable to secure a locum physician so patients will be transferred to other hospitals.

The western sector manager Ken Hampson says he expects it will have a minimal impact on Griffith district residents

Editor: How long will it be before the Eastern Sector Manager is unable to secure a locum to attend births on the Far South Coast?

5.44pm Wednesday 23 September 2009 - ABC News

IRC hears Orange, Bathurst hospital disputes

Negotiations are set to resume into a long running dispute over staffing issues at the Orange and Bathurst base hospitals.

The Health Services Union (HSU) and the Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) met at an Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) hearing yesterday to discuss the next step.

The HSU says members have been dealing with unacceptable workloads.

The union's Gerard Hayes says further talks will be held to resolve the matter once and for all.

11.56am Sunday 20 September 2009 - Press Release - Jillian Skinner

Tebbutt's to do list at Nepean Hospital

Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner today said the new Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt must use her visit to Nepean Hospital to deliver practical solutions to the problems plaguing Western Sydney health services and not just for a photo opportunity.

“Nepean Hospital has the third longest waiting list in the state, with 2314 people waiting for surgery, yet the incompetent Rees Labor Government is cutting operating theatre time because of its inability to manage its economy,” Mrs Skinner said.

“The emergency department is struggling to cope with 50% of patients with an imminently life threatening condition and 75% of patients with a potentially life threatening condition not treated within the clinically appropriate timeframe,” she said.

8.44am Friday 18 September 2009 - Ginger - The Australian Online.

Labor NSW; Under Labor NSW Hospitals owe creditors about $65 million

A Sydney businessman is threatening to stop providing bandages and other medical supplies to NSW hospitals because the health department is always late paying for them.

NSW Health officials revealed during budget estimate hearings in State Parliament the department owed creditors about $69 million.

Les Mico, who runs family-owned company Total Patient Care, said he was owed $100,000, of which $87,000 was overdue, including $47,000 which was more than 90 days late.

He’s been in the medical supplies business for 36 years and the NSW health system has been a customer for the past 25 years.

But he says for the past seven years or so NSW Health has failed to pay him on time.

“Every month we have to go cap in hand to ask for money that is owing to us,” Mr Mico said.

“In most cases it is 90 days or more outstanding. Considering that we have to obey the contracts and provide our goods within the terms of those contracts, we find it’s one rule for us and one rule for them.”

2.18pm Wednesday 16 September 2009 - ABC News

Health service struggles to pay $7m in bills

The North Coast Area Health Service is struggling to pay its bills on time.
The New South Wales Health Department owes creditors state-wide almost $70 million in late payments.
Government figures show the North Coast Area Health Service owes $7,400,000.
Chief executive Chris Crawford is blaming health unions for the problem.

7.59am Tuesday 15 September 2009 - Sky News

Tebbutt faces hospital drama on day one

The case of a woman who miscarried in her bathroom after being turned away from a hospital in Sydney's west will go to the Health Care Complaints Commission.

Speaking after being sworn in as the minister, Carmel Tebbutt said the miscarriage experienced by Rose Taylor, 26, from St Helen's Park, in Sydney's southwest, was 'distressing'.

'A miscarriage is a very, very distressing set of circumstances and the matter has been referred to the Health Care Complaints Commission,' she told reporters.

7.00am Monday 14 September 2009 - Sydney Motning Herald - Julie Robotham, Medical Editor

Rose sent home to miscarry on her own

Alone, in shocking pain and bleeding copiously, Rose Taylor gave birth to what might have become her third child in the bathroom of her St Helen's Park home, while her husband, son and daughter slept.

Despite twice visiting the emergency department of Campbelltown Hospital with obvious symptoms of a miscarriage, Mrs Taylor, 26, was not given the option of admission, but sent home on both occasions - delivering a 14-week foetus without professional support and with only paracetamol to counter excruciating labour cramps.

...Later in the same article...

In October 2007 the then health minister, Reba Meagher, pledged to respond within a month to an independent report into the Horska case that recommended urgent development of care protocols for miscarrying women. The Government funded extra early pregnancy nursing positions in emergency departments, but did not commit to specific care standards.

2.24pm Thursday 10 September 2009 - Daily Telegraph - Kate Sikora

Last gasp for state hospitals - $60 million in debt

The NSW health system is so debt-ridden Sydney's leading hospitals are effectively "going under" because they are $60 million in the red and unable to pay staff.

The situation is so dire that financial experts declared hospitals in Sydney's west insolvent and said that no private business could continue to operate the same way.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal Sydney West Area Health Service (SWAHS), which manages Nepean and Westmead Hospitals, has debts of at least $60 million. Area health management was recently unable to pay specialist doctors for their work and was unable to pay suppliers.

A leading surgeon in the area warned the hospitals were "on the brink of collapse" and the public was unaware of the desperate situation.

5.31pm Monday 07 September 2009 - ABC News

Condobolin lobbies for dialysis service

There is a warning renal patients in Condobolin are suffering because of the long distances they are forced to travel for treatment.
The Lachlan Shire Council had asked former health minister John Della Bosca for his support to open a renal unit in the town.
It would save people from having to drive up to two hours to Orange for medical care.
The council's general manager, George Cowan, says it is a huge burden for patients to have to travel up to two hours for dialysis.

3.56pm Thursday 27 August 2009 - ABC News

NSW Health warned not to cut nurse numbers

Albury Liberal MP Greg Aplin is calling on New South Wales Health not to proceed with any nursing staff cuts.

The New South Wales Nurses Association says 100 senior jobs area-wide are at risk.

Mr Aplin says the figures show nearly 16 registered and enrolled nurse positions in his electorate will go because of reduced hours.

That includes the Corowa, Culcairn and Holbrook hospitals.

Mr Aplin says the cuts should be made in the bureaucracy, not in health services.

3.52pm Thursday 27 August 2009 - ABC News

Protesters rally against hospital funding changes

About 300 people took to the streets of Broken Hill yesterday to protest against changes to state hospital funding.

The protesters were objecting to episode funding, whereby money is allocated to hospitals according to patient type and number.

3.49pm Thursday 27 August 2009 - ABC News

North coast nurses want minister to act

The state Health Minister has been asked to intervene and stop plans to merge director-of-nursing positions at several north coast hospitals.

John Della Bosca was presented with about 150 signed protest forms as he toured the Lismore Base Hospital yesterday.

Gil Wilson, from the New South Wales Nurses Association, says having one director to supervise nursing at both Lismore and Ballina makes no sense.

3.48pm Thursday 27 August 2009 - ABC News

Hospital funding plan 'absurd'

The Barrier Industrial Council wants the New South Wales Government to scrap a plan to change hospital funding and to reinstate the Far West Area Health Service board.

A community march and meeting will be held in Broken Hill today to air concerns about the plan.

The council says health service funding could be cut by up to $11 million, which would impact on staff and services.
Council president Danny O'Connor says the plan is absurd.

3.48pm Thursday 20 August 2009 - ABC News

Fight continues to save Gulgong Hospital

Local residents fighting to save the Gulgong Hospital are refusing to accept alternative services proposed by the New South Wales Greater Western Area Health Service.

Health bosses deny there are plans to close the facility but say a review is underway and a HealthOne centre is being considered.

A public meeting is being held tonight amid concerns the hospital's emergency department and acute care beds may be affected.

The chairman of the Gulgong Health Council, Peter Doran, says he does not believe the area health service's assurances.

1.29pm Thursday 20 August 2009 - ABC News

United stance urged to change hospital budget

The chairwoman of the Broken Hill Health Council says a united approached is needed to get changes to the proposed budget for the local hospital.

Pam Tucker says the New South Wales Government is proposing funding cuts of more than $11 million and the remote cluster general manager, Rod Wyber-Hughes, is trying to encourage the Government to adjust the budget.

She says she hopes the strength of opposition to the budget will ultimately benefit the hospital.

"I believe very much in people power ... we talk about Government power, we talk about the Labor Party, the Liberal Party but don't ever underestimate people power," she said.

"My heart tells me t won't happen, but my head tells me don't sit back and be complacent we need to make sure we take a proactive approach to it and don't sit back and wait

The president of the Barrier Industrial Council, Danny O'Connor, says Broken Hill residents need to take direct action in the form of a community rally.

12.20pm Thursday 20 August 2009 - ABC News

Council wants maternity unit assurance

The Parkes Shire Council is seeking reassurances from the New South Wales Health Minister that the local hospital's maternity unit will not shut.

The Greater Western Area Health Service has denied there are plans to scale back services being offered by the unit.

But shire councillors are not convinced mums-to-be will still be able to give birth at the Parkes Hospital.

Mayor Ken Keith say the council wants the issue clarified for the sake of the community and staff.

12.10pm Thursday 20 August 2009 - ABC News

Riverina health staff 'fear job losses'

The Nationals' Member for Murray Darling, John Williams, says health staff in the Riverina are worried about losing their jobs.

The Greater Southern Area Health Service announced in June some jobs may go as part of an internal review.

It said there would be no cuts to front-line clinical jobs but other positions may not be necessary.

Mr Williams says staff have heard otherwise and want the service to tell them the truth at an upcoming community meeting in Deniliquin.

"Over the last 12 months there's all sorts of speculation on different aspects of the service being taken away from the people in Deniliquin and some of them have been unfounded but others are of concern still," he said.

The nurses' association says 40 nursing jobs could be cut.

4.33pm Monday 17 August 2009 - Mudgee Guardian

Turner calls for answers

Nationals Member for Orange Russell Turner has also called for Health Minister John Della Bosca to rule out a closure of the Gulgong Hospital.

“I have been informed that staff at the hospital have been told there are plans to close the facility, however the Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) has denied any such move.

“The health minister must come forward and clarify the situation and I call on him to guarantee Gulgong Hospital will remain open,” Mr Turner said.

5.27pm Sunday 16 August 2009 - The Sunday Telegraph

Family 'begged' hospital before fatal crash

A hospital patient, who was discharged and allowed to drive home despite pleas from his family, died minutes later in a car crash that also killed another driver.

Rodney Knowles rang his son and brother from Shoalhaven District Hospital in NSW on October 25 last year after having routine dialysis and sounded "delusional".

Both separately begged the nurse on the phone not to let him drive home, but he got behind the wheel and had a head-on crash, killing himself and another driver aged in his 50s

5.53pm Friday 14 August 2009 - ABC News

Health service axes plans for surgery cuts

A plan to almost halve elective surgery at the Cootamundra Hospital, in the state's south, has been axed after a large public rally.

Hundreds of people protested yesterday afternoon in response to the review of surgery targets.

The Greater Southern Area Health Service says it has considered issues raised by the community.

Cootamundra's Mayor Paul Braybrooks says he welcomes the assurance that elective surgery targets will now remain the same as last year.

"The outcome of the meeting was that the point was well and truly made that a sizeable number of the community in Cootamundra are really concerned of what was a potential threat to the viability of [the] Cootamundra hospital," he said.

Read original

2.53pm Sunday 9 August 2009 - Jillian Skinner

Bathurst hospital ward and bed closures must be stopped: NSW Liberal/Nationals

The incompetent Rees Labor Government must cease its plans to shut the surgical ward and close its associated beds at Bathurst Hospital, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner and Duty MLC for the Bathurst Electorate Rick Colless said today.

“The incompetent Rees Labor Government wants to cut frontline health services from Bathurst Hospital, the NSW Liberal/Nationals absolutely oppose this,” Mrs Skinner said.

“This is yet another example of Labor’s faceless and failed Area Health Services making a decision without consulting the local community or expert clinicians working in Bathurst Hospital,” she said.

12.50pm Thursday 6 August 2009 - ABC News

North coast nurses rally against cuts

Nurses across the New South Wales north coast are continuing their fight against cuts by the region's area health service.

More than 60 nurses gathered for a rally outside Lismore Base Hospital yesterday to protest against changes to nurse management.

Nurse Helen O'Donnell says North Coast Area Health Service CEO Chris Crawford needs to understand that nurses will collapse if workloads increase any further.

Read much more

12.50pm Thursday 6 August 2009 - ABC News

Council questions health phone service axing

The Towong Shire Council has rejected a recommendation to discontinue its after-hours maternal and child health phone service.

The shire's entire maternal and child health service was recently reviewed.

One of the review recommendations, put to the council meeting this week, was to discontinue the phone service.

Mayor Mary Fraser says councillors have asked for more information before voting.

12.45pm Thursday 6 August 2009 - ABC News

Health service closure 'would stop visitors'

A visitor to White Cliffs says other potential visitors will be turned away if the local health service is shut down.

Mary Stockdale has been in the town for five weeks, talking to residents about the rationalisation of the town's heath facilities.

The Greater Western Area Health Service wants to cut services in White Cliffs, as part of a New South Wales Government review.

Ms Stockdale says she would not come to White Cliffs if it did not have a health service.

"If there was no medical service permanent here, like five-days-a-week, I would not come here, I happened to take a bad turn on the weekend, the girls were there available for me at the medical centre," she said.

The health service says it will continue to consult the community over its plans.

Read original

11.59am Tuesday 4 August 2009

Federal Govt urged to fix state health

A New South Wales north coast MP says the Federal Government needs to step in and improve the state's public hospital system.

The federal Member for Cowper, Luke Hartsuyker, says the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission's final report does nothing to help the immediate needs of public hospitals in NSW.

He says the Federal Government has decided to delay improvements to the health system, while local hospitals need immediate financial help.

"We have at Maclean Hospital the situation where staff are being centralised to Grafton, understaffing at Coffs Harbour, downgradings in Bellingen and the urgent need for upgrade at Kempsey Hospital which has been waiting for an upgrade for years," he said.

Read original

3.07pm Saturday 1 August 2009

White Cliffs 'must fight' to keep health services

A far western New South Wales station owner says she wants the White Cliffs community to stand together to fight to keep local hospital services.

The Greater Western Area Health Service is looking at its performance as part of a review ordered by the New South Wales Government in response to the Garling inquiry.

Local MPs say that lives could be lost if health services such as those in White Cliffs are downgraded.

Louise Turner says the rumours have been circulating around town for a few weeks and the community wants to know more about the review.

"As a community, if we don't show concern and we don't show a united front in wanting to have a say in what happens to the health service in the town, it could be too late maybe two or three months down the track," she said.

Read original

3.11pm Monday 16 February 2009

Dubbo Health Rally, proof, according to Member for Barwon, Kevin Humphries that people have had enough.

Kevin HUMPHRIES MP - Member for Barwon - Shadow Minister Healthy Lifestyles – Preventative Health, Mental Health, Sports and Recreation - Shadow Minister Aboriginal Affairs - Shadow Minister Western NSW.

Mr Humphries said other health service complaints such as unpaid bills and poor working conditions were symptomatic of an over centralised health system.

“The NSW Labor Government has run our health services down, with continual mismanagement leading to poor service delivery, high budget pressures, low staff moral and a system that is far too top heavy.”

He said under the National/Liberal Coalition in Government in NSW there would be a shift back to grass roots and local approaches to health care delivery and service.

“The message is clear and constant - we need local decision making and input back in our health system.”
He said the obvious approach would be to reinstate regional hospital boards.

“We need to restore accountability into our health system, and who better to make decisions that affect our unique communities than those on the ground with a vested interest in the health care delivery.”

Read the Media Release

7.55pm Tuesday 10 February 2009

Brian Thompson, President of Bathurst Christian Broadcasters, owners of community radio station Life FM 100.1.

Hi Graham

Sorry to hear of your plight, you may be aware, or not, that similar problems exist in the Greater Western Area Health Service where the provision of a new hospital at Bathurst was grossly mismanaged, the older (heritage) buildings are now in a make safe phase pending complete reappraisal of the project, not withstanding this, suppliers and VMO have withdrawn services from some hospitals because they have not been paid. It seems that incompetence is endemic in NSW Health Administration and I stand with you. I have long been of the opinion that relying on the public health system for personal health care is like signing your own death certificate, only the date is missing.

There is only one answer and it is political, the removal of this incompentent Labor government and the incompetent sicophants and fellow travellers they have appointed to positions of authority during the twelve years of hard labor the people of NSW have been sentenced to.

You may like to consider that a take over of Public Hospitals by the Federal Government is a logical future development removing hospitals from the arena of local politics.

regards
Brian

Editor - Brian has suggested that the following 2 articles confirm his views.

Bathurst Hospital suspends surgery after safety concerns and

Bathurst's hospital of half-measures already unable to cope
"Health care in Bathurst is already on a slippery slope. The more bed closures and winding back of services we see at Bathurst Hospital, the more threat there is that our hardworking local health professionals will move elsewhere to practice their skills."

8.13pm Tuesday 3 February 2009

Councillor Jeff Maybury of Cessnock.

The next two images were sent to info@savepambulahospital today after a phone conversation with Cessnock Councillor Jeff Maybury of Kurri Kurri who organised their recent rally.

2.06pm Sunday 01 February 2009 - The Herald - Kylie Williams - 24/01/2009 4:00:00 AM

People turn up heat to defend Kurri Hospital

About 1500 Coalfields residents defied the heatwave yesterday to show NSW Health Minister John Della Bosca they would not lose Kurri Kurri Hospital's emergency department without a fight.

Mr Della Bosca met staff and community groups at John Hunter, Maitland and Kurri hospitals yesterday to discuss the Garling report recommendations.

He addressed the rally outside Kurri Kurri District Hospital after arriving at 2.45pm yesterday and was met by angry jeers.

"My issue with Garling is to find out what communities think, to find out what doctors and nurses think, not just at Kurri Kurri Hospital but around the state," Mr Della Bosca said.

Delegates from the rally, the area health advisory committee and doctors and nurses met Mr Della Bosca after the rally to discuss the recommendation that Kurri's emergency department be closed and a major trauma centre be established in Newcastle.

Read the whole article.

Editor - I have emailed Councillor Jeff Maybury of Cessnock, the rally organiser, asking to exchange information on campaign strategies. He responded by phone on Monday 2 Feb. and chatted at length about the devastating situation being experienced in his local community and what they had done to improve their situation. Like Pambula, Kurri Kurri Hospital is in dire straits.

Its happening everywhere. Hospital downgrades in many areas have involved communities in the same plight we find ourselves in now.

Read about:

Shellharbour Hospital W.A.C. 12 June 2008 "In May in the Illawarra, Dr Irwin Pakula, the director of psychiatry at Shellharbour Hospital, resigned in disgust at management practices which included “bullying, gagging and scapegoating”, according to the Illawarra Mercury."

Woy Woy Hospital

Cessnock District Hospital Maternity Services
NSW Legislative Assembly Hansard extract; Speakers: Stoner, Mr Andrew; Burton, ... The closure of the maternity services is a sign to me that the Government ...

Bathurst Hospital

Dubbo Base Hospital

Camden District Hospital Maternity Ward
In 1995/96 the Camden Maternity Service delivered 762 babies. ... officer Colin Froud said rumours that Camden’s maternity ward was earmarked for closure or ...

Murwillumbah Hospital

Nyngan hospital

Health service proposes nursing hours cut There could be fewer nurses working in the New South Wales central west region's hospitals as part of a plan by the Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) to cut costs. The NSW Nurses Association (NSWNA) is reviewing a proposal by the area health service which includes reducing the number of hours nurses work. The plan also involves slashing the number of nurse management positions by amalgamating areas across the region.

NSWNA's Susan Pearce says it is unacceptable to have only one director of nursing for Bathurst and Orange. "I'm sure our members will support us on that issue," she said. Ms Pearce says cutting the hours of nurses would save money but patients still need care. "Particularly the larger centres - Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo for example - there are a number of nursing positions or hours ... identified to be reduced," she said. "So it is quite clear that front-line services are in fact affected."

Gulgong District Hospital

Murwillumbah Maternity Units Tweed Daily News 24 June 2008. "This means that if an unexpected complication occurs for a woman in late pregnancy, including women in labour, then that patient will need to be transferred urgently via ambulance to the Tweed Heads Hospital for Caesarean Section or other interventions as required." And further.. Tweed Daily News 14 July 2008. "More than 6000 Tweed residents demonstrated during a march through Murwillumbah's CBD on Saturday that they are not willing to let their maternity ward at the Murwillumbah District Hospital slip silently into the night. Parents, grandparents and children of the hospital from all corners of the shire -- Crystal Creek, Burringbar, Stokers Siding, Chillingham, Pottsville, Mt Burrell, Uki and Casuarina -- took to the streets with a clear message to the NSW government and North Coast Area Health Service: Hands Off Our Hospital."

Crookwell Hospital NSW Nurses Association 7 July 2006 "Mona Timo, Health Services Manager at Crookwell Hospital, says the restructure plans proposed by the GSAHS would downgrade her position and increase her workload to an impossible level."

Batemans Bay and Moruya hospitals ABC News Mon Feb 9, 2009 2:01pm AEDT. There have been claims over the weekend that nurse morale in two New South Wales far south coast hospitals is at an all-time low. A public meeting held yesterday has been told that unmanageable rosters at Batemans Bay and Moruya hospitals are causing significant stress amongst nursing staff. More than 100 people who attended the meeting also heard that specialist nurses are being sent to work in general wards and junior nurses are on the front-line in emergency and high dependency departments.

Crookwell District Hospital Parliament of NSW 15 October 2003 "Crookwell District Hospital Operating Theatre Closure"

Finley Base Hospital Parliament of NSW 18 June 2003 "Until the election of this Labor Government, the Finley Base Hospital was a fully functioning community hospital, very much the heart and soul of the town of Finley. Finley is in the south of my electorate, about an hour and a half from Albury and about the same distance from Shepparton, the two nearest major communities. It has a population of a few thousand. Since about 1995 or 1996 the hospital has been significantly downgraded."

Scone Hospital Sydney Morning Herald 16 September 2002 "The NSW Government denies it, but Scone residents and doctors are convinced their hospital has been earmarked for a significant downgrade - and the Hunter Valley town is fighting back.

Pambula Hospital Doctors urge NSW Health Minister to prevent. “disgraceful closure” of Pambula maternity unit. Pregnant women to be forced to drive 2 hours to give birth ...

Media Releases & News RDA NSW
A range of issues such as the closure of the maternity unit and now paediatrics at Pambula Hospital on the Far South Coast and the ongoing battle that NSW ...

Doctors deplore sudden closure of maternity unit - National - smh ...
STAFF shortages that forced the weekend closure of the maternity unit at a northern NSW hospital underline the parlous state of rural health, doctors say. ...

Maternity Services Review Submission from The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Manly Hospital Maternity Unit
1 Mar 2006 ... The closure was caused when the accredited registrar position in the maternity unit was withdrawn and visiting obstetricians could not ...

NSW: Maternity unit opening politically-motivated
AAP General News (Australia) 03-19-2004 NSW: Maternity unit opening politically-motivated: ... KEEP WARD OPEN; MLAs vow to oppose maternity unit closure. ...

The World Today - Birthing row as services closed in NSW
21 Jul 2008 ... SIMON SANTOW: She says the temporary closure of maternity ... it's far from the first time smaller maternity units have been sacrificed to ...

PDH
The relentless downgrading and closure of rural hospitals across NSW, particularly maternity units and now paediatric care. * RDA NSW's 8 point plan for ...

Maternity unit shut down at Blue Mountains Hospital The Daily ...
21 Jul 2008 ... today to protest against the closure of its maternity unit. ... Because the NSW Government couldn't staff the Bourke Hospital and even ...

Hills residents rally over maternity unit closure. Australia ...
About 100 people protested the closure of the maternity unit at the Swan ... 1817 -- The founding of the first Australian bank, the Bank of NSW The business ...

CSU News - Regional News - Study into impacts of closing rural ...
Do you have recent experience in giving birth in rural or remote NSW? ... experiences of the women who are most affected by the closures of maternity units, ...

Default Mareeba maternity unit to close despite minister's vow. One of the two midwifery-modelled maternity units in regional Queensland will shut its doors on Friday despite assurances only two weeks ago from Health Minister Gordon Nuttall it would remain open. The closure, which was announced Monday, means pregnant women in Mareeba will need to travel to Atherton or Cairns to have their babies.

Stand off - Doctors say single maternity unit will not work ...
Dr Michael Pentin of Eden said the closure of the Pambula maternity .... as mentioned in the maternity report as there are very few remaining in NSW. ...

NSW Nurses' Association: News: Backdown On Murwillumbah Cutbacks
Protect Your Rights at Work with over 50000 other NSW nurses. ... Last month's shock closure of the Blue Mountains Hospital maternity unit has distressed ...

RURALDOCTORS ASSOCIATION (NSW) INC Rural women forced to labour in front of ED patients and visitors: rural doctors urge federal action Pregnant rural women in Coonabarabran, in north-west NSW

Maternity Unit Closure Protest - Eden Local News/Editorial ...
NSW Rural Doctors Association Secretary Dr Paul Mara says the closure is ... "But now we have a situation where the closest maternity unit does not have ...

21 Oct 2008 ... And it’s not a closure it’s a suspension. ... “While saying the Blue Mountains needs a maternity unit, Nathan Rees has made no commitment to ...

Rural doctors rally for better services
Dr Woollard pointed to the closure of maternity units across rural NSW to emphasise his point - the latest one being Pambula, on the Far South Coast. ...

National tally of local Maternity Units/ midwifery ...
NSW the GMTT recommended the closure of at least Katoomba and Closure of Beaudesert maternity unit as doctors will not go there? ...

MedicalSearch.com.au Australia - NSW: Govt is under fire after ...
He said the temporary closure of the hospital's maternity unit was due to a shortage of medical ... NSW hospitals don't have enough money to pay bills:rpt ...

NSW Midwives Association PO Box 62 Glebe 2037 NSW Executive ...
The majority of pregnant women in NSW access public maternity care which offers ..... NSWMA is concerned about closure of small maternity units in recent ...

CSU News - Latest News - Health - Safe maternity services close to ...
16 Sep 2008 ... “Maternity unit closures have placed women living in rural and remote areas at ... which was funded by the Nurses and Midwives Board of NSW, ...

MATERNITY UNIT IS SET TO BE REBORN.(News) - South Wales Echo ...
NSW: Brogden vows to reopen Camden's maternity unit ... KEEP WARD OPEN; MLAs vow to oppose maternity unit closure.(News) ...

From little things, big things grow: a local approach to system ...
In NSW alone, 32 out of 67 rural maternity units have closed since 1995 [8]. ... the closure of rural maternity units and absolutely no choice for women" ...

Small Hospital Maternity Units - Natural Parenting Forums
On our news tonight we had an article about the closure of maternity services in small ... In NSW, the future of maternity services at Byron Bay, Bega, ...

Submission from New South Wales Maternity Coalition to the ...
In the past 15 years 48 maternity units have closed. The majority of these are .... Wyong hospital prevented the closure of birthing services due to shortages in ..... i NSW Framework for Maternity Services NSW Department of Health 2000 ...

SUPPORTING COUNTRY MOTHERS
IMPROVING MATERNITY SERVICES IN REGIONAL NSW .... The closure of country obstetric units has meant the loss of GP proceduralists ...

Debate From little things, big things ...
In NSW alone, 32 out of 67 rural maternity units have closed since 1995 8 . ..... Journal of Australia 1989 150 673 76 2733613 Closure of maternity wards ...

Rural doctors rally for better services
29 Nov 2008 ... Dr Woollard pointed to the closure of maternity units across rural NSW to emphasise his point - the latest one being Pambula, ...

Maternity deadline set for hospital - National - smh.com.au
THE NSW Health Minister has heaped full responsibility upon the shoulders of one of her ... to get the Blue Mountains Hospital maternity unit reopened within eight weeks. ... She said the Blue Mountains closure would put women at risk. ...

Maternity ward gives way to family centre - Local News - News ...
Shellharbour Hospital's post-natal unit will close to new mothers in a move ... NSW Nurses Association Illawarra representative Angela Pridham said. ... "This has been a closure by stealth for Shellharbour maternity services and a ...

Letters to the editor - Opinion - Letters to the Editor - General ...
21 Nov 2008 ... Ms Mackinnon asked whether the Rural Doctors Association of NSW (RDA ... We reiterate that closure of Pambula Hospital’s maternity unit is ...

National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
CROWS NEST NSW 1585. Submission to Maternity Services Review. ... in all existing maternity units. This has led to the closure of 130 rural maternity ...

Leeton District Hospital Midwifery Training Program
As a result of the aging workforce and natural attrition, Leeton maternity services were in danger of closure. In 2002 the maternity unit relied on 1 FTE of ...

NSW midwives association's annual state conference 2005 .... I also do the occasional casual shift at Shoalhaven Maternity unit to keep me ‘grounded ... in their local community following the closure of their maternity services in 1999. ...

Blackwell Synergy - Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol, Volume 46 Issue 3 ...
16 May 2006 ... Add to this the closure of significant numbers of local maternity units,2 which means many women travel, often great distances in rural ...

Ward closure the final blow - Lake Times
5 Feb 2009 ... The NSW Nurses Association and Illawarra Birth Choices have condemned the closure of Shellharbour Hospital’s post-natal ward saying it ...

Maternity Coalition Press Releases NEWS RELEASE July 07, 2006 Tony ...
The closure of small rural and remote maternity units in Australia has come under ..... Consumers of maternity services across NSW are joining forces with ...

The secretary of the NSW Midwives Association, Hannah Dahlen, said, ..... decision making have led to the closure of hundreds of these units across Australia in recent years.’ ... ‘The maternity unit is often the heart of a community. ...

Health protests from Merimbula to Bondi - Local News - Sport ...
“The maternity unit and paediatric service have been closed at Pambula for no reason ... there will be no further downgrades or closures of NSW hospitals. ...

Women and Birth : Midwifery: “At the edge of history” - Published ...
I sat in a meeting recently in NSW where publicly funded homebirth was once ..... This closure of small maternity units in both regional and metropolitan ...

Public fury at Carr over state of services - National - www.smh.com.au
... 49 per cent of people in NSW were satisfied with public hospitals - down ... closure of Camden Hospital's $20 million maternity unit after two years. ...

Mental health unit closure talks - Health - News | Leader Messenger
Mental health unit closure talks. THE future of the northeast’s only acute-care ... petition calling for Modbury’s maternity ward to stay open feared the closure was ...

New Mums in Crisis « Health and Nursing Issues Australia
A CRISIS in Queensland’s maternity service is leaving one in three mothers traumatised ... was now a problem statewide following the closure of 38 maternity units.

Parkes District Hospital

Toilet miscarriage prompts maternity access call. The NSWNA says people should not let medical mistreatment stories deter them from going to emergency departments. The NSWNA says people should not let medical mistreatment stories deter them from going to emergency departments. The New South Wales nursing union says women should have better access to maternity services after several claims of poor treatment by patients having miscarriages in hospital.

Maitland Hospital

Union to fight nurse cutbacks in rural NSW - Bathurst Hospital: one of the hospitals facing nursing cuts. The Greater Western Area Health Service has defended its plan to axe some nurse management positions in smaller towns. Representatives will today meet with the NSW Nurses' Association in Orange, in the state's central west, to discuss the proposal, which includes cutting managment positions and reducing casual and overtime shifts. The union says it is the equivalent of axing 130 nursing jobs, and is part of a $60 million cost-saving plan by the Government.

Cobar Hospital Cobar Mayor Lilliane Brady has slammed the Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) for installing second-hand airconditioners in the town's hospital.

Kurri Kurri Hospital and Residents to rally against emergency dept closure The Mayor of Cessnock will table a mayoral minute at tonight's council meeting expressing concern over a proposal to close Kurri Kurri hospital's emergency department. Last year, the Garling report into acute care services in New South Wales recommended closing the department. A community rally opposing the closure will be held this Friday during a visit to the region by Health Minister John Della Bosca.

Cessnock Mayor Alison Davey says no-one on council has been included in any discussions regarding the hospital. "We're very annoyed that we weren't consulted in this process and we are certainly asking in that mayoral minute that Mr Della Bosca assure us that community consultation will actually occur," she said. "I have been asked by several councillors to include in that minute that this community is certainly opposed to any reduction in services at Kurri Hospital."

Credit crunch hits rural hospitals Staff at some hospitals in western New South Wales have been buying supplies with petty cash because their hospitals have been refused credit by local businesses that are owed money by the Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS).

Maternity exodus: Rees seeks doctors' return - NSW hospital suffers mass resignation. New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees says he will try to lure back four GP obstetricians who quit a north coast hospital yesterday.

Kempsy District Hospital ABC News - Mid North Coast NSW 13 November 2008 "Sneaky downgrades of the Kempsey District Hospital by the state Labor Government over the last decade really is a disgrace," Nationals' leader and Oxley MP Andrew Stoner.

Bulli Hospital Illawarra Mercury 31 October 2008 "South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health yesterday refused to answer questions on the closure after announcing on Friday the plans came at the suggestion of "surgeons themselves". The claim has been met by confusion and anger among surgeons at the hospital, who say they were not consulted on the closure."

nsw rural health alliance

Tebbutt’s ‘Second’ Phase Health Reforms Can’t Be Taken Seriously

Abbott plan 'a bunch of rhetoric', says Rudd.

Gulgong Patients defy shut-down

Snowdon holds rural health talks

Abbott launches hospitals offensive

Tebbutt's new year resolutions aim to ease health hangover

Narrabri: Australia Invests $41.7 Million For Narrabri Health Service Redevelopment

Bellingen Hospital Community has joined the cyber-battle through its own site.

Bellingen hospital needs a lifeline not cuts

More money needed for indigenous health

Blue Mountains Hospital closure leaves woman screaming

Wagga Mum says hospital bed worries going unheard

Health Service Exposed: attempts to silence Illawarra doctor

Illawarra still waits in line for surgery

Grenfell doctor withdraws resignatio

NSW health services 'not paying on time'

NSAHS, CCAHS, GSAHS: Health services still in debt

Maitland waiting list increases by 224 in last 12 months

Dubbo patients waiting too long: Skinner

NCAHS: Nurses fight Health job cuts

NCAHS cut budget to the bone

Wolfgang reports that Coonabarrabran Hospital is next to fall.

And Kevin Humphries MP says Confusion reigns over Coonabarabran hospital

Bellingen: Govt urged to rule out hospital downgrade

Western NSW: Councils demand health service answers

Are you listening Australia? Our health cannot wait.

Hunter Region: Critical doctor shortage continues

Gulgong: Fears mine expansion could strain medical services

Councils unite for health funding boost

Coffs Harbour, Macksville, Bellingen, Dorrigo: Nurses reject management merger plan

Bellingen: Health service says hospital to stay open

Coolah: Nursing shortage puts patients 'at risk'

Dubbo ‘spent decades playing second fiddle’ for health funds

Patient safety at risk as Coolah Hospital bypassed

Bathurst: Cutback claims dog Bathurst hospital

Health staff shortage 'cripples' regions

PM urged to keep cataract rebate

Bourke: Outback eye surgery to end

Orphan's plight highlights health 'cutbacks'

Ballina: Gathering focuses on rural health boost

The Face Of Labor’s Broken Health System: Grandmother Waits 513 Days For Surgery–She’s Still Waiting

Gulgong: Health service plans blow budget

Council to protest nurse staff cuts

Nurses left in lurch after redundancy ban

North Coast: Surgery wait list reaches 8,000

Labor cannot fix hospitals

NSW hospitals facing challenges: Tebbutt

Ambulance 'delays for seriously sick'

New Health Minister Misleads on Hornsby Hospital Budget Cuts

Rural doctors demand more money

Griffith: Riverina hospital left without ICU

Tebbutt's to do list at Nepean Hospital

Labor NSW; Under Labor NSW Hospitals owe creditors about $65 million

Health service struggles to pay $7m in bills

Tebbutt faces hospital drama on day one

Rose sent home to miscarry on her own

Last gasp for state hospitals - $60 million in debt

The Face Of Labor’s Broken Health System:
Grandmother Waits 513 Days For Surgery–She’s Still Waiting