While a change isn’t ­imminent, Albury Wodonga Health’s new service plan released last night ­proposed moving all maternity ­services to the Albury hospital in ­Borella Road within the next 13 years.

The main reason was to put maternity ­services near acute services with theatres and intensive care — which Albury has.

Once the baby unit moved north of the border, the ­Wodonga unit — which ­delivered about 1600 babies a year — would be ­redeveloped for services for the elderly.

Albury Wodonga Health chief executive Dr Stuart Spring told The Border Mail last night the change “wasn’t set in concrete” and much discussion and consultation was needed.

Dr Spring said reorganisation of services required substantial federal money.

For now, the service, having secured a regional cancer centre, was pushing strongly for money to enlarge the Albury emergency unit, and for cash to run the hospitals.

Dr Spring released the 2012-25 service plan at a forum at The Cube last night.

But at a question-time chaired by Lou Liberman, the maternity unit transfer wasn’t mentioned and speakers instead focused on how to secure more money for the service generally.

Dr Spring defended the move to cut 50 jobs and allow the waiting list for elective surgery for public patients to lengthen.

A total of 1616 babies were born in the Wodonga unit last financial year. It was 1625 in 2010-11.

Little growth in births is expected in the next few years.

But the plan warned the number of over-65s would grow by 50 per cent across the region.

Mothers use the Wodonga maternity service for pre-natal, birthing and post-natal care.

While it is the only unit for Albury-Wodonga, mothers come from a wider region because smaller hospitals have discontinued their maternity services.

Wodonga Hospital opened the new Colonel Bob McLean wing for mothers in 1988, some time after the old Albury Base Hospital closed its maternity ward.

In 1998, after much controversy, Albury lost its other maternity ward, at the Mercy Hospital, and all services were centralised in an expanded Wodonga unit.

Wodonga mayor Mark Byatt, who was at the forum, was unable to comment on the maternity unit move last night because his council was in caretaker mode with an election pending.

But he did ask if the service plan looked far enough ahead, and whether a greenfield site for a single hospital was being considered eventually.

Albury Wodonga Health chairman Ulf Ericson said a single hospital had been discussed with state ministers but the service also had to address short- and medium-term problems first.

Dr Spring said if the service began in 2009 with a clean sheet, it preferred a single hospital but it had two campuses and had to make the best use of them.