Mr THOMAS GEORGE (Lismore) [6.05 p.m.]: At the outset I want to compliment every medical officer, every doctor, every nurse, and every staff member at Lismore Base Hospital. Today in this House the Leader of The Nationals asked a question regarding stage three of the redevelopment of Lismore Base Hospital. I have personally invited the Premier to inspect Lismore Base Hospital. Sadly, she has refused. The answer the Premier gave to that question today certainly gives me no heart and would very much disappoint the community regarding the attitude of this Government towards the stage three redevelopment of the hospital.

As I have said in this House on a number of occasions, a cluster of hospitals around Lismore Base Hospital have lost services, and that has forced people to come to the base hospital. It is the base hospital of the region, so that is fair enough. It is what the community has learned to live with. But what disappoints me is that the infrastructure at Lismore Base Hospital simply cannot handle the pressure that is being placed on it. I feel very embarrassed when elderly people come to my office complaining that they have gone to Lismore Base Hospital to visit a patient and the lifts have been out of order. The hospital lifts being out of order was a problem 12 months ago, and it was a problem recently, when one of the lifts was condemned. I agree that there are other lifts in the hospital, but a lot of people use the base hospital. On the recent occasion people had to climb stairs to go to the sixth or seventh floor.

But what topped it off recently was an incident involving an 87-year-old World War II veteran, Mr Parker. He was a patient in Lismore Base Hospital and the call system broke down. All the patients were given a bell, which they were told to ring if they were in trouble. Late in the evening, close to midnight, Mr Parker rang the bell for something like 45 minutes but could not get anyone to attend to him. In the end, out of concern, because he had been perspiring and he did not know whether he was in blood or water, he grabbed his mobile phone and rang his wife. His wife said, "I can't do anything, I'm at Ballina. Ring 000." So he rang 000, to get the operator to contact the hospital and get the nurses to attend to him.

I admit that letters of apology have been sent to this gentleman since that time. Not only did he get the nurses' attention, but the nurses took the phone from him and then took the battery and the SIM card out of it—just in case he disturbed other patients if he made more phone calls. An urgent invitation was sent to the Premier to visit Lismore Base Hospital, and a copy was sent to the Minister for Health. We sought their urgent attention in this matter—not only the matter I have referred to, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Stage one of the redevelopment, which is the mental health unit, has been completed. I have spoken in glowing terms in this House about that unit. It was a great win for the Lismore community. We have child and adolescent beds there, and the unit is working well. The cancer unit is now very close to completion.

I pay tribute to the Government for securing another great win for the community by allocating funds to establish the cancer unit for the region at Lismore. However, it must be said that, based on statistics, Lismore should have had the unit years ago. It was promised in 2004, and it is being opened only now, in 2010. It will be developed to become the radiotherapy centre for the Northern Rivers district. A recent announcement revealed that $2.6 million will be allocated to refurbish accommodation across the road from the unit for the benefit of cancer patients. I pay tribute to Dr Chris Ingall and Dr Adam Boyce, Lismore oncologists, for the dedicated effort they made to obtain the funding. A second positron emission tomography [PET] scanner has been promised. I call on the Premier and the Minister for Health to visit Lismore and see firsthand the infrastructure at the Lismore Base Hospital.

Dr ANDREW McDONALD (Macquarie Fields—Parliamentary Secretary) [6.10 p.m.]: I will not discuss the issues raised by the member for Lismore, but I will pay a tribute to Dr Boyce and Dr Ingall, who are well known and highly respected clinicians in northern New South Wales. They are leaders in their communities as well as in the medical community Australia wide. I pay tribute to them for their efforts in obtaining the unit, with the help of their local member.