There has been disappointment and concern over the decision by NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner to change Pambula Hospital’s emergency service into a nurse-led department operating from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.
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The news follows the announcement last week of the new model of care for Pambula Hospital. As well as a nurse-led emergency department, beds will reduce to 12, but money has been allocated for hospital renovations and upgrades.
The announcement follows much debate by the Pambula Health Service Community Engagement Committee (PHSCEC), which put forward 39 recommendations to the health district.
President of Save Our Hospital Inc Sharon Tapscott said she was happy that nearly all the recommendations had been adopted.
“It means that the hospital has a future being complementary to the new SERH, and remains to be upgraded again when the need arises.
“Of course it will have to change in the services it provides , as one of the stipulations of the brief from the Health Minister, was that we must not duplicate services to remain open.
“I know there are some that may the be disappointed by the model proposed for the ER. It was not the community’s preferred outcome but given that the resources needed to man a VMO model roster were not there, the model we have now will be better than no ER . With capital investment by the state government PDH will remain open for the benefit of the local community, albeit in a different format,” Mrs Tapscott said.
Merimbula’s Dr Frank Simonson, who has campaigned long and hard for Pambula Hospital, was less conciliatory.
“How politicians can sit on their hands while bureaucrats run amok is beyond me. Presumably they will start pointing these same fingers when someone dies, because that is what it is going to take for the message to get through,” Dr Simonson said.
“It is worth noting that the current Minister for Health, Jillian Skinner, went to the people on the basis of maintaining services at Pambula Hospital.”
Long-term campaigner Neil Rainbow, of Pambula, said Pambula would no longer be a rural hospital.
“It will be similar to a medical clinic. Despite 26,000 signatures supporting the full restoration of health services at PDH, huge people marches, TV advertisements, TV coverage, Pambula Hospital has been created as the sacrificial lamb in order to please centralisation objectives,” Mr Rainbow said.
Wolfgang Kasper, of Tura Beach, also a long-term campaigner, was full of praise for the efforts of the hospital community committee though.
“The outcome of years of debate and struggle with the health bureaucracy would have been a lot less acceptable had the local community not shown such wonderful engagement,” he said.
