Wodonga councillors unimpressed by master plan for Albury hospital

The councillors were commenting at Monday night's council meeting after having received a briefing from health authorities that afternoon.

They were dismayed by a lack of detail and Cr Poulton said he was left believing the $558 million earmarked for the project was severely inadequate.

"This feels really uncomfortable and for anybody who says 'just accept it' or anybody who says 'it will be Wodonga's fault that it fell over' - I'd rather it fall over so someone can come back together reasonably at a table with a set of crayons and we can draw it as a community and get what we actually need," Cr Poulton said.

"As I walked away (today) and they're focusing on the half-a-billion dollars in a master plan the first thing I said to a couple of people in the room is that we're $1.5 billion short."

Councillor Olga Quilty fell asleep at the session.

"I don't know whether it was because of my jet lag or because it was a bit underwhelming," Cr Quilty said.

"I would like to see a lot more information than I have received this afternoon."

Mayor Ron Mildren said the blueprint was "quite underwhelming" but he would make a more considered response at a later time.

"I want to go into the detail, what little there is and find out exactly how this is going to fit together," Cr Mildren said.

"I want to look at it in detail to see how the clinical services plan matches up with the master plan for what it is.

"The master plan...came across as a very interesting piece of architecture work but there's no evidence that I can came across....that shows how that relates...to the actual services and things that are to be delivered."

Councillor Danny Lowe said the plan "lacked eveything" before pointing to detail about car parking, jobs and services.

"They kept saying 'the detail will come out, the detail will come out', a master plan is detail so yeah we might end up with better drawings but better drawings is not actually a better health outcome for our community and that's what we're trying to achieve," Cr Lowe said.

The councillors were discussing the master plan in the context of a motion to note progress in their advocacy for a new Border hospital.

Councillor Danny Chamberlain said it appeared the Twin Cities were being short-changed.

"We deserve the best, just because we happen to be on the border I don't feel like we're being taken seriously by state governments on both sides," Cr Chamberlain said.

After having previously held a health services forum with other councils in August, Wodonga is now planning a second such gathering on October 26.

"That's probably going to be the most important gathering we'll have in a while in regard to our hospital," Cr Mildren said.

It is hoped presentations from the Border Medical Association and Better Border Health will occur at that meeting.

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