- Home
- Hansard & Papers
- Legislative Assembly
- 10 May 2007
Royal North Shore Hospital Facilities
Printing Tips |
Print selected text
| Full Day Hansard Transcript
« Prior Item |
Item 27 of 47
| Next Item »
Page: 262
Ms GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN (Willoughby) [4.25 p.m.]: No-one in the House would disagree that health is a major issue in the community, particularly in the Willoughby electorate. In the last couple of months I have received a number of representations from constituents concerned about ancillary services at Royal North Shore Hospital that have been disrupted because of development at the site. A doctor from the hospital wrote an anonymous letter to the North Shore Times detailing his concerns about car parking facilities at the hospital. Many in the community share his concerns. The temporary car parking facilities are inadequate to cope with the number of staff at the hospital and the number of people using its services. The letter states, in part:
I am a doctor in the emergency department, and pay $28 directly from my salary a month for the pleasure of parking at work. It will therefore come as no surprise that I am disgusted by the two $77 fines I received in the last two months.
Although I pay for parking, there is no guarantee that I'll even find a place anywhere in the hospital grounds.
On occasion, I can trawl "staff parking" for more than half an hour without success, and then, when I am forced to leave my car in a zone at the wrong time or "not within white lines" I am penalised. The complete disaster that is the North Shore parking deserves a Triage Category 1—i.e. critical.
This is a serious matter. People need to access hospital facilities in emergency and stressful situations, and staff need to access facilities to carry out their responsibilities. I ask the Minister for Health to examine these concerns, and ensure that access to temporary and permanent car parking facilities is satisfactory to staff, patients and the community.
I refer also to hydrotherapy services at the hospital. Some areas of the hospital site are currently undergoing redevelopment. Many constituents have contacted me because the site has no hydrotherapy pool. As all members know, hydrotherapy can be important tool in the recovery process. But there is no guarantee that on completion of redevelopment the Royal North Shore Hospital, a major health facility in the State, will have a hydrotherapy pool. I have written to the Minister for Health on behalf of my constituents on a number of occasions. I am concerned about the most recent response from the former Parliamentary Secretary for Health because it does not guarantee a hydrotherapy pool on the hospital site. The response, received on 20 February, states, in part:
I am advised by … Chief Executive, Northern Sydney and Central Coast Area Health Service, that the RNSH hydrotherapy pool is located in an area identified for future development …
While it is too early to speculate on the location or configuration of hydrotherapy services in the future, Dr Christley assures me that the Area Health Service is committed to the continuing provision of hydrotherapy services in the local area.
The response confirms that my constituents are right to be concerned: hydrotherapy services cannot be guaranteed in the future development of the Royal North Shore Hospital. The response refers specifically to the local area. The Northern Sydney and Central Coast Area Health Service covers a huge area up to Gosford on the Central Coast. Lack of hydrotherapy services is a major concern for constituents not only in the Willoughby electorate, but also throughout the lower North Shore area. It is an ironic situation, given that the State Government removed mental health services from Chatswood because, as we were told and continue to be told, it is better to consolidate health services at the hospital site. If that is the case why is the Government now removing hydrotherapy services from the site?
It seems the Government has a political response to whatever issue is at hand, rather than a plan to ensure that mental health services and hydrotherapy services are retained within proximity to patients in desperate need of those services. Unfortunately, the State Government is acting close to form by providing a political response to basic services and concerns that constituents have every right to raise. I call on the State Government to retain mental health services in Chatswood, ensure that hydrotherapy services are retained at the Royal North Shore Hospital site and improve car parking facilities at the hospital.
Last modified 05/12/2007 16:45:51 : Update this page