I was delighted to read that the council is preparing to support a new hospital, and I wholeheartedly agree with the opinion piece of the Pastoral Times recently supporting the new hospital, and encouraging others to come on board in supporting it.
The devil, as always, is in the detail.
As much as the idea of a new greenfield site is refreshing and appealing, there are some details that the general public, including hospital staff, may not be aware of, or have thought of;
• Doctors who participate in on-call (anaesthetics, emergency department, obstetrics), are required to live within four minutes drive of the hospital, and their surgeries be within three minutes drive of the hospital. If there is a new greenfield site, all the doctors would have to sell their homes and move, and also their surgeries.
• There are a range of other businesses and services located near the hospital which currently add to the safe running and comfort of patients and visitors (food outlets, police station, accommodation options). They would also either have to move, or lose business.
There is plenty of room at the current site to do a staged rebuilding.
This is not widely known, but there are several, very large two storey buildings on the hospital grounds which are either no longer being used, or were not used at all.
There is an entire second storey of a very large building which has never been used because it did not meet the occupational health and safety standards when it was built.
It has been standing vacant since it was built in the 1950s.
There are many examples of a new hospital built and designed on a new site being not fit for purpose, because of lack of meaningful consultation with those who are actually going to use the building.
Our own hospital is an example of this - an ambulance bay that does not fit ambulances, and the whole second storey previously mentioned.
There are many other examples around the country, including a hospital in Melbourne that did not admit a single patient for years after it was built.
The advantage of a staged development means there is plenty of time for meaningful staff and community consultation as things progress, and there should be minimal disruption to the functioning of the hospital as it progresses.
Requiring a whole hospital to move at once would be extremely disruptive.
A staged development also means that the various tradespeople who are involved will have a more sustainable long term prospect of employment on the project.
We would be less likely to have to outsource from the town, and those who did visit the town would be here for longer, bringing their need to use the town services and goods.
The land the current hospital is on is already owned, is prime land, close to the CBD and could not have a more pleasant outlook.
The new hospital could be designed to provide patients with uplifting view of our beautiful riverscape.
I hope some of these points will be considered when contemplating where and how a new hospital should be built.
Yours etc.
Dr Marion Magee
Deniliquin
14°C