Albury Wodonga Health's chief executive and chair have told the NSW and Victorian health ministers that the "likely reality" the Twin Cities will continue with split hospitals is "grossly disappointing".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Bill Appleby and Jonathan Green wrote to Ryan Park and Mary-Anne Thomas on December 19, 2023, with their concerns about what has unfolded since October 2022 when a single-site hospital in Albury was flagged by the then NSW and Victorian premiers.
The letter, and a redacted version of Albury Wodonga Health's 2022 clinical services plan review, have emerged publicly as a result of a parliament document request by NSW Greens Upper House MP Amanda Cohn.
Their disclosure coincides with Health Infrastructure NSW releasing a 139-page August 2023 master plan for Albury hospital, just over four months after Mr Park and Ms Thomas "unveiled a master plan" for the site which had four paragraphs and nine dot points.
In their letter, Mr Appleby and Mr Green note at that time, October 16, 2023, the ministers reconfirmed the Albury hospital would have more beds, new operating theatres, relocated maternity services, fresh children's ward, a mental health unit to replace Nolan House and more car parking.
They then note sub-acute services and three operating theatres will remain at Wodonga hospital with no clear date for a closure of its emergency department.
Mr Appleby and Mr Green also state the health service is "being challenged" in relation to the possible removal of a helipad, the site of paediatric services, constraints on diagnostic services and space limitations for education, training and research in the planned new building.
"The above will lead to leaving more services at Wodonga, or in their current outdated state, thereby compromising further on design and overall amenity and safety for patients and staff," the pair wrote.
The CEO and chair added the situation was unfolding with a "highly political community campaign" for the release of the clinical services plan review from 2022.
"We are finding the current situation challenging for us to champion with our clinicians and community and would appreciate the opportunity for discussions directly with you, to ensure that the Albury-Wodonga regional hospital project meets with government policy intent and most importantly, community expectation," Mr Appleby and Mr Green wrote.
"Albury-Wodonga is one of the largest regional cities in Australia and is in fact one regional metropolis, not two.
"Our comparator cities, such as Bendigo, Ballarat and Wagga Wagga, each enjoy consolidated hospital services.
"The likely reality that our city will need to continue to endure a split acute/sub-acute hospital configuration despite the generous contributions of the Victorian and NSW governments is grossly disappointing and for the board and executive leadership of AWH, it is not in keeping with our duty to provide the safest and best care possible to our patients and community without elevating these concerns to you."
The 139-page master plan undertaken by Hassell consultants for NSW Health Infrastructure states it did not consider a greenfields site for a new hospital because that had been assessed in a Conrad Gargett master plan.
The plan analyses sites for the planned 10-storey clinical services building and concludes that the south-west corner of the Albury campus is the best option.
A factor in that finding was that it would allow space to the east to remain open for a potential five-storey private hospital.
The outpouring of information comes on the eve of Wodonga Council's health summit which will be held on Friday, March 1.
Mayor Ron Mildren is looking forward to the event, which has been snubbed by the Victorian government.
"It's an enormous opportunity to change the way things can be done and come out with infrastructure that meets the need of our regional community," Cr Mildren said.
"There's 300,000 people that live in the region, Geelong and the Surf Coast have 315,000, Wollongong is 295,000 and Hobart is 205,000, so we're a big player."
