Better Border Health on concerns over hospital project for Albury Wodonga

The announcement, made just prior to the Victorian government election and a few months out from the NSW election, was called out by the Border clinicians as "politics before planning". The former chair of the AWH board, Mr Matt Burke OAM, then admitted it was not in keeping with the board's preference for a new hospital on a greenfield site.

Questions on future stages and funding commitments, total costs, future proofing, and the number of additional beds provided, were all ignored ... as if those leading the charge did not have answers or did not want those answers to be made public. There were alarmingly few answers despite a detailed master plan having been completed in 2021, soon after the clinical services plan. With such little information, it's not surprising there were growing suspicions there was no political commitment to completing the job.

Ten months on, there are still no facts or details being tabled, and no one, from either the NSW or the Victorian governments is willing to answer questions. The community consultation, earlier this year, that NSW Health infrastructure boasted about, was merely lip service. Those seeking to engage and question the process were dismissed or appeased - alarmingly reminiscent of scenes from ABC TV's Utopia.

There is a growing, sinking feeling our community is being done over, and the reality will be much worse than we have anticipated. The language has changed; what was "a new single-site hospital" from premiers Perrottet and Andrews in October 2022, is now just an "expansion", according to Victorian Deputy Premier, Jacinta Allan in recent weeks.

There have been clues along the way. Firstly, an acknowledgement there will be a significant reduction in the original planned bed capacity; reducing the size of the required hospital by at least 25 per cent.

Then, a peculiar announcement that a new master plan was being drawn up. How then did governments and health departments initially decide that $225 million was the amount required from each state? Can we assume the original master plan, which included advice from clinicians - who know their community and craft so well - was not palatable?

Does this new master plan, developed only 12 months after the last one, allow enough for growth in demand? Will there be multi-campuses? What surrounding land needs to be acquired, given 80 per cent of the Albury campus is already built upon or car parking? Does it allow for the co-location of the private hospital and research and education precinct? How do we continue to build a hospital while patients remain in the wards? Are the bed numbers based on the real situation in Albury-Wodonga, or a cookie-cutter approach based on what money is available? Will we have fewer beds?

Dr Amanda Cohn MP, Member of the NSW Legislative Council, asked the NSW Parliament to release the documents from the original 2021-22 master plan. The NSW government's response was to state "a redevelopment on the existing Albury hospital campus is considered to be more sustainable and will deliver better value for money" - the opposite of the position of the then AWH board and clinicians.

This claim remains unsubstantiated as Dr Cohn was also told her call for the release of planning information may "not result in many documents". Where have those documents gone?

What our community wasn't told and has since been acknowledged in NSW parliament is there is no commitment to complete all stages required to develop a new single-site hospital or to future proof our service: "Additional staging would be delivered according to future funding availability". That's code for "there is nothing more coming your way and the redevelopment begins and ends at stage one ... nothing more for you lot".

We've seen what happens when the community becomes restless, and the bureaucrats can't dampen down the growing concerns? Firstly, send a senior member of government, say the Victorian Deputy Premier, to try and hose it all down by making the claim that many clinicians support the plans (or lack of plans) - a farce of a comment, which has been furiously rebutted.

Then the Victorian Premier comes to the region and delivers a brusque message, again falsely claiming that the decision to redevelop the existing hospital is based on advice of local clinicians.

While there is no transparency, the blame game and the obfuscation will continue. Why shouldn't we expect answers to our questions when the community's health care is at stake? Why shouldn't we hope this cross-border service is supported and thrives, rather than continues to be in the crosshairs of both states?

We know clinicians are genuinely concerned about how they will manage with so few beds until 2028 - and whether this development will provide substantive relief. What about the modular structures that AWH has requested to safely care for patients in the interim phase? Why are the pleas to help create safe patient care being ignored?

It seems our community is being sold out. It is clear the 2022 announcement and the false pretence of consultation was only to silence those who are trying to provide care for our community. It's understandable that Wodonga Council, and the region's local governments representing their constituencies, want answers. But there is no transparency, not even to Albury Wodonga Health on the inter-governmental agreement signed off between the states in 2022.

There are red flags that the outcome will be more compromised than anyone could anticipate, with the fears we will get nothing more than an expensive Band-Aid and a poor return on taxes we all pay.

This does not sit well with us; does it sit well with you?