Opinion: the end of an era

This week marks the end of an era. From Monday no doctors will be available for assistance at the Emergency Department at Pambula District Hospital. There may be a locum doctor around giving advice to nurses because he already had a brief contract, but for all purposes there are no doctors because he will leave shortly.

Well into the century before last, a gift of land was made to the NSW Government to provide for a Hospital to be built. NSW Government Treasury officials are now salivating at the opportunity to sell this land.

The bureaucrats and the politicians have engineered this closure and they will be patting themselves on the back when the so called new Regional Hospital opens. For those of us living in the Southern half of Bega Valley Shire here is some advice:

If you have a medical condition and you need to attend an Emergency Department, you will be sent to Bega Hospital;

If you suffer a laceration, however minor, you will be sent to Bega Hospital;

If you think you need an xray, the xray service at Pambula Hospital is closed, you will be sent to Bega Hospital;

If you need medication or have a medication problem you will be sent to Bega Hospital;

If you need pathology tests ordered you will be sent to Bega Hospital;

If you are seriously ill or injured call an ambulance and you will be taken to Bega Hospital;

In short if you need to see a doctor, and your own doctor is unavailable, you will have to go to Bega Hospital. If you are a visitor and you cannot be seen by a local doctor, you will have to go to Bega Hospital.

So how do you get to Bega Hospital?

Private transport, family or friends. Put petrol in your car and drive carefully, particularly at night;

Bus transport, not available;

Call a taxi, but increase your mortgage first;

Get an ambulance if you are lucky, because they are driving back and forth from Eden to Bega Hospital.

If you need to travel from Pambula Hospital to Bega Hospital, who pays for this?

How do you get home from Bega Hospital?

Private transport, as above;

Taxi – good luck;

An ambulance will not take you home. Their priority is to take patients to Bega Hospital. They are an Emergency Service not a taxi service.

If you have no private transport or can’t afford a taxi, you will have to sit in the waiting room at Bega Hospital if it is at night. During the day it is just bad luck, try hitch hiking if you are brave and stupid.

For the ambulance staff who will be exhausted, when Ambulance Control calls you for another Emergency when you are off duty, refuse to go. I know you will feel guilty about someone suffering, but your health is just as important.  

We all know a disaster is just around the corner and we know that bureaucrats and politicians are never brought before the Coroners Court but Health Care Workers are always called. Any problem will be duck shoved to you.

Easter of this year is going to be a telling time for a health care in this region.  However for the Doctors who have given their lives in the service of Pambula Hospital, along with their long suffering families, they can have a well earned break like the rest of the country.

There are so many people who have tried so hard to seek reason from the health bureaucracy to maintain Pambula Hospital.

I have been very proud to be associated with them all especially Cr Sharon Tapscott, who has given everything to this cause. They have every reason to feel betrayed and disappointed.

The Chairman of the Southern NSW Health District, Jenny Simmons, and the Deputy Chairman Cr Russell Fitzpatrick, both of whom live locally, presumably signed off on this arrangement.

Health Minister, Jillian Skinner, was elected on the basis of maintain Pambula Hospital. When you vote next time remember what has happened to Pambula Hospital

Dr Frank Simonson, Merimbula