In that time the Border’s population has continued to rise at a steady pace and the demands on our health system have also grown.

While Albury-Wodonga is blessed compared with many major regional centres when it comes to the diversity and strength of its medical community, the department has stagnated.

It has long been recognised that something needed to be done.

That’s certainly in the eyes of anyone who has had to deal with sitting around in the waiting room for hours on end on a Saturday night after being triaged.

And certainly the numbers of patients being seen in recent years has supported that – it is not uncommon to have in the region of 8000 to 9000 people go through the department in a three-month period.

One-fifth of those are taken to the department via ambulance.

Despite such incredible demands, both it and Albury Wodonga Health’s Wodonga hospital emergency department, which was upgraded a few years ago, are usually close to or right on the mark with treating all category one patients who have suffered major trauma, such as a heart attack.

But again, that is despite the clearly inadequate facilities in Albury.

Four years ago then NSW health minister Jillian Skinner noted how Albury Wodonga Health was well aware of the need for a major upgrade. But, she said, it wasn’t just about bricks and mortar – much work had to be done on creating a design that fitted in perfectly with the rest of the spread of health services on site.

At the same time, Albury MP Greg Aplin warned it could take several years to reach the point where something could actually happen.

That all makes this week’s announcement in the NSW budget of $30 million to allow for a doubling in size of the department all the more sweeter.

The health service itself has admitted that an allocation of one-third of that amount would have been welcome, so it is an extremely welcome step.

As Albury Wodonga Health chief executive Leigh McJames pointed out, the project would make for “a quantum leap in terms of the service we can provide”.