CAMPBELL HOSPITAL, CORAKI
Page: 15007
Mr STEVE CANSDELL (Clarence) [5.04 p.m.]: I draw to the attention of the House concerns surrounding the proposed closure of services at Campbell Hospital at Coraki under the North Coast Area Health Service [NCAHS] draft health care services plan 2005-08. A brochure published by the NCAHS entitled "Better Health Services for the Richmond Valley", would be better replaced with a document entitled "Best Value for Richmond Valley Hospitals. Alternative Strategies for Campbell Hospital, Coraki", released by the Save the Coraki and District Campbell Hospital Committee.
The NCAHS brochure refers to the establishment of an Aboriginal health outpost at Box Ridge, a small Aboriginal community outside of Coraki with a transient population of between 70 and 90. Most of the Aboriginal people in the Coraki area live in town or at Woodburn, and prefer to attend Campbell Hospital. Even the Aboriginal community agrees that the estimated $400,000 to $500,000 that will be expended on the proposed service and supply of an Aboriginal health worker would be better spent by being channelled back into Campbell Hospital to enable retention of the existing 14 acute care beds and 24-hour emergency department. In the past six months alone there have been 470 after-hours presentations to the emergency department. The cost of attempting to transport these people to Lismore, Casino or Ballina, which are from half an hour to one hour's travel time away, mainly by ambulance or taxi, would be unrealistic. As I say, that money would be far better spent in the local hospital.
Another recommendation in the brochure relates to the establishment of a medical clinic at the hospital. There is already in existence a private clinic in Coraki that is available to the public. In fact, it has attracted two doctors, with a third to arrive shortly. The three doctors are willing to become visiting medical officers if the hospital is retained. The closure of the acute care beds at Campbell Hospital, Coraki, is at odds with the NCAHS Sustainable Access Plan, which identifies an existing shortfall of 74 beds across the North Coast Area Health Service, 42 in the Northern Rivers area. The establishment of a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. medical centre to replace the existing 24-hour emergency department duplicates the existing services of the existing Coraki Medical Centre.
The plan to open an Aboriginal health post at Box Ridge is not supported by the Coraki or Box Ridge Aboriginal communities. NCAHS predicts it will save more than $1 million in staff redundancies, which is at odds with its claim that no forced redundancies will occur. There are many discrepancies between the brochure and the reality. Making redundant visiting medical officer and nursing positions at Campbell Hospital is also at odds with the professed aim of the New South Wales Health Department to attract doctors and nurses to rural areas, as outlined in the document, "Securing our Health Workforce" released in March 2005.
It has been suggested in the discussion paper on the provision of health services for the North Coast that the North Coast Area Health Service has limited physical bed capacity and will not be able to open 74 beds without significant capital and infrastructure development. While that statement may be true of the larger hospitals, it is not true of Campbell Hospital, Coraki. Campbell Hospital has the existing infrastructure to support an immediate increase from 14 to 35 beds. This would provide an additional 21 acute care beds, half of the 42 beds required by the NCAHS in the Northern Rivers region.
This would be achieved at minimal cost, mainly a wage cost, and would provide additional jobs in a rural area that traditionally has a high unemployment rate. There are many reasons that Campbell Hospital should be retained. I believe the word "community" has disappeared from this Government's vocabulary, and that service, or provision for the community, has definitely been lost. The bottom line here is dollars, and yet there is not a great saving to be made. In fact, the retention of Campbell Hospital would ensure much better health service provision and better service for the indigenous people of the area. [Time expired.]