THE NSW and Victorian health ministers have released a "master plan" for the $558 million revamp of Albury-Wodonga Regional Hospital.
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Ryan Park and Mary-Anne Thomas issued a joint media release on Monday October 16 spruiking the blueprint, however an extensive master plan was not uploaded to the NSW Health Infrastructure webpage
Instead it included four paragraphs on the development of the master plan, five dot points on its objectives and four dot points on what it was designed to achieve.
Each of those points made broad statements, including delivering "a strategic and orderly approach to consolidating services onto a single site in line with the $558 million project budget".
However, there were no specifics about bed numbers and the size of a multi-storey car park or a new clinical services building, earmarked for the south-west corner of Albury hospital.
Mr Park described the plan as a "significant milestone" in the redevelopment project.
"It provides the framework for the redevelopment, and includes construction of a new multi-storey clinical services building, upgrades to existing infrastructure, as well as improved access in and around the hospital," Mr Park said.
"The master plan also provides opportunities for future expansion zones to allow other infrastructure development and partnership opportunities to be explored in the future."
Comments from Albury Wodonga Health chair Jonathan Green were also included in the media release.
"The master plan sets the foundation to deliver Albury Wodonga Health's clinical services plan, consolidating acute healthcare services on a single location to support sustainable health care facilities and services, whilst leveraging existing infrastructure to get the best possible outcome from this significant investment," Mr Green said.
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"In addition to the master plan release the Victorian Department of Health has commenced service planning for the Wodonga hospital campus due for completion in early 2024."
The release of the master plan follow health bureaucrats supplying the same details to Albury and Wodonga councillors and state MPs Bill Tilley and Justin Clancy.
Mr Clancy welcomed the unveiling and said the master plan material was similar to that produced for Wagga hospital's redevelopment.
"Certainly we would welcome further detail, but this at least puts something out there that gives us a sense of the current footprint and footprint for future expansion which is an important step forward," Mr Clancy said.
Better Border Health labelled the master plan release as "simply chicanery".
"A handful of very basic schematic drawings, artist impressions that bear almost no resemblance to the actual Albury site; and a summary that parrots previously released project outlines does not constitute a master plan," it said.
"NSW Health Infrastructure has been working on this for close to 11 months.
"It is unbelievable that more than $2 million has already been spent to deliver such a poor outcome that provides our community with so little confidence in the viability of this project."
The plan's release precedes a new round of community consultation sessions slated to begin on Wednesday October 18.
Better Border Health representative Di Thomas questioned the lack of notice, given advertising of the events began on Saturday.
She noted most of the sessions would take place in business hours, the one weekend session clashed with Border Relay For Life, and one online event was scheduled for 4pm, a busy time for parents after school.
"You really have to doubt their sincerity in terms of wanting to engage with people," Ms Thomas said.
"They need to give people notice.
"It's good that they're kind of reaching out to some of the other regional centres, but it doesn't go far enough.
"It misses places like Yackandandah, like Corryong, like Tallangatta."
Ms Thomas suggested a format similar to what was done with the Albury Wodonga Health annual general meeting, that is, an evening presentation that gave people the chance to tender questions beforehand.
"I just think there are a myriad of other ways of doing this in making it available and open to as many people as possible," she said.
A Health Infrastructure spokesperson said Health Infrastructure was committed to meaningful public consultation and sought advice from councils and community members to help determine the best dates, times and locations to consult with communities.
"Ten community information sessions are planned this week, including two sessions outside of business hours," the spokesperson said.
"Public consultation will continue throughout delivery of the Albury Wodonga Regional Hospital project, with community sessions to be held at different stages of planning and design."
More details of the sessions are available on the Health Infrastructure website.
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