Tuesday 25 June 2019
Will the Clarence Valley see an upgrade of Grafton Base Hospital within the next three years or will it take a decade to commence?
Grafton Base Hospital is a 50-99 bed public health facility which offers health services to an est. 51,647 resident population in the Clarence Valley on the NSW North Coast and an additional annual tourist population which can reach or exceed 1 million visitors.
In the first
quarter of 2019 ambulance arrivals at Grafton Hospital were up 11.5 per
cent, emergency department presentations rose by 3 per cent, emergency
presentations climbed by 4.2 per cent, hospital admissions increased by 14.9
per cent with acute admissions totalling 3,127 patients and the elective surgery
waiting times continued to grow.
In that same
quarter during the NSW state election campaign the Nationals MP for Clarence on
behalf of the Berejiklian Coalition Government promised
voters in the Clarence Electorate a much needed $263.8-million overhaul
of Grafton Hospital.
At the time
doubts were raised about the genuineness of this promise as it contained little
detail.
Those doubts
are now resurfacing……
The Daily Examiner, 21 June 2019, p.3:
A major hospital upgrade
looks to be a while off as the Clarence Valley joins the long queue of regions
promised big projects at the New South Wales election.
The $263million
commitment to the Grafton Base Hospital redevelopment was
made in the final weeks of the campaign in March and is just one of many major
infrastructure promises outlined in the 2019-20 Budget Papers.
However, there there was
no specific line item in the 2019-20 Budget and Nationals MP Chris Gulaptis was
quick to point out it would take time.
“It’s not a line item as
such as we are still in the very early planning stages but there is a
commitment for works to commence during this term of government,” he said.
“In the meantime,
consultation needs to occur between the LHD, clinicians and the community to
ensure the redeveloped hospital is able to provide for the community
into the future.”
Mr Gulaptis said he had
received assurances from Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Treasurer Dominic Perrotet
and Deputy Premier John Barilaro that all election commitments would be
honoured and provided a letter from Health Minister Brad Hazzard responding to
representations he made after winning the election.
In the letter, Mr
Hazzard said the project was one of many promised but work would still start
before the end of the current term of parliament.
“In the period prior to
the March election, the NSW Government announced a significant number of
upgrades to hospital and health facilities across the state,” he said.
“This requires a
prioritisation of when projects will commence over the next four years and will
occur in alignment with the annual budget process.
“Once funding is made
available through the budget process, Health Infrastructure will work with the
local health district and clinical staff to progress the project through the
planning stages.”......
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