That is the first step in providing what Edward River Council has described as ‘‘a contemporary facility that meets the health service needs of the Edward River region’’.
The council wants up to $60 million for hospital redevelopment, which is supported by Deniliquin doctor Marion Magee, who spoke to Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Deputy Premier John Barilaro during their recent visit.
In Tuesday’s edition she outlined how the Deniliquin Hospital has fallen behind, while Echuca has been developed under a local board of management.
She believes Deniliquin Hospital needs to return to the days when it was under the control of a local board.
‘‘We know a hell of a lot better what we need than Wagga,’’ Dr Magee said, referring to the Wagga based Murrumbidgee Local Health District, which controls Deniliquin Hospital.
‘‘Wagga doesn’t care passionately about the Deniliquin community, as we do. They care passionately about the Wagga community, which is perfectly natural, but doesn’t help us.
‘‘I’ve worked at Wagga Hospital for a few weeks and let me tell you, no expense is spared there.
‘‘We don’t typically refer (patients) to Wagga, so we are really not on their radar. When you’re there, you realise we just don’t exist, or if we do, it’s as a troublesome whining bothersome fly.’’
Dr Magee says at Deniliquin Hospital there needs to be a resourcing, empowering approach to risk management, rather than a ‘run away, send everything out’ attitude.
She has highlighted the false economy of sending so many patients away for care.
‘‘We now send millions of New South Wales health dollars over the border — that’s right, with every patient we send from here to be managed in Victoria, NSW Health has to pay Victoria Health.
‘‘Each ambulance trip, each retrieval, is tens of thousands of dollars out of the hospital’s budget, because we have to pay for each transfer.
‘‘At least Echuca has made good use of the millions of dollars we send them every year.
‘‘If we put the millions of dollars we spend sending everything out of Deniliquin to be managed in Victoria towards resourcing our hospital, our community would be so much better off, in so many ways.’’
This includes:
●People not having to travel;
●Less expense for community members needing health care;
●Better and timely access to health care;
●Less time off work;
●Less family disruption;
●Safer health environment;
●More work satisfaction for health staff; and
●Better able to attract and retain quality staff.
‘‘I’m sure (your) readers would be able to think of many more benefits,’’ she said.
Dr Magee also says a problem with the current system is that ‘‘medical emergencies don’t categorise themselves by postcode’’.
‘‘They still get wheeled in the door on a frequent basis, and we still have to handle them, stabilise them, and prepare them for transfer. It is a minimum of three hour turnaround time when we call for a retrieval, and we have to keep them alive for that time.
‘‘It is well known in medicine that the first hour, called ‘the Golden Hour’, is the most critical for the successful management of any medical emergency.
‘‘We have handled emergencies here which would have made the most senior specialists in major teaching hospitals quake in their boots.
‘‘Often we have to handle them with an ‘improvise, adapt and overcome’ attitude because of lack of suitable equipment.’’
■In Tuesday’s edition: Murrumbidgee Local Health District is given the opportunity to respond to the need for upgrades at Deniliquin Hospital, and advise our community what it is doing to facilitate improvements.
15°C