Member for Barwon pushes for hospital action in parliament

Member for Barwon Roy Butler has pushed for action on Wee Waa Hospital in NSW parliament.

In this week’s newsletter, Mr Butler said, “For nearly two years now Wee Waa Hospital has been operating at reduced hours, effectively it is closed with only a skeleton staff.

“I have worked with the Regional Health Minister, Ryan Park, to get the hospital back to normal operating hours. The minister has stated that he is committed to keeping the hospital open and returning it to normal operation, but Hunter New England Local Health District has consistently failed to do what is necessary to reopen the hospital.

“They have also failed to engage with the local community to work on a solution, even actively undermining a community working party formed for that specific purpose.

“Last week in NSW Parliament I delivered a Private Member’s Statement detailing the situation at the hospital and the shortcomings of HNE, indicating that I have asked the Minister for an inquiry into the health district’s failure regarding Wee Waa Hospital and also foreshadowing a bill that I introduced the next day to split up the health district into separate Hunter and New England LHDs.

“Splitting the health district would end the great divide between well-resourced hospitals in the east of HNE LHD and those that are poorly resourced in the west.

“This idea is not a new one, former MP for the Northern Tablelands, Adam Marshall, also introduced a bill to split the health district, after getting 16,000 signatures on a petition for the split, showing the depth of support for the plan.

“Although there are fears that splitting the health district would just create a poorly resourced New England LHD, the bill should be referred to a committee for review, which would mean that the actions to create the new health district would come under the scrutiny of a parliamentary committee, and if the new LHD is created it would, like any other health district, be appropriately resourced to pay for doctors, nurses, equipment, buildings, admin staff, cleaners and whatever is needed to keep it running properly.

“HNE LHD seems too large for the current administration of the LHD, they seem incapable of equitably resourcing hospitals in the west. Something needs to be done to see that hospitals like Wee Waa are not missing out because resources are being sent elsewhere.

“My colleague Helen Dalton, Member for Murray, has also introduced a bill to split the Murrumbidgee Local Health District, which will affect Lake Cargelligo in my electorate. I will give my support to her bill if it means that regional areas will receive better outcomes for health.”