Queanbeyan Hospital bollocksing health throughout the region?

p’raps qbyn can just shift all its resources into what it does do very well – maternity…

this matter highlights the disparity of the various states/territories having control of health with a single federal policy system guiding it.

virgil99 said :

There were multiple reports telling them not to build that hospital. But you take a permanently marginal state and federal seat, and a population that thinks they’re somehow the poor cousins of the ACT, and whatdo you get, a $50 million white elephant.
To be fair, the health service management are trying really hard to get permanent staff, and to improve usage. They work very hard to do their best with limited resourcess. Very hard in current climate where salary/award for senior medical staff is better ++ in the ACT, and there is better back up and infrastructure.
Big problem is that model for the hospital is of a rural district one…….but practical reality is that it’s a suburb of a big city, with a major teaching hospital, 2 private hospitals and highly advanced diagnostic facilities within 15 minutes.
And although there was a huge amount of money for building, there is very little for running / recruiting.
I cannot see a solution without ACT Health taking over.
Also important to note, that of the people making the most noise, the opposition are clearly not objective, and the local GP’s are mostly upset that a place that has been their personal (highly lucrative) fiefdom for 25 years, is attempting to drag itself into the 21st century.

+1. Nothing more to say, really.

What a surprise- in a time of critical medical and allied health workforce shortage, building a fancy building doesn’t create more staff!! Of course the majority of Drs in the area work at the higher paying, better resourced tertiary facilties down the road rather then the rural hospital. Must be frustrating to continually have to transfer your patients when you don’t have the radiology or emergency surgical facilities to manage them.

There were multiple reports telling them not to build that hospital. But you take a permanently marginal state and federal seat, and a population that thinks they’re somehow the poor cousins of the ACT, and whatdo you get, a $50 million white elephant.
To be fair, the health service management are trying really hard to get permanent staff, and to improve usage. They work very hard to do their best with limited resourcess. Very hard in current climate where salary/award for senior medical staff is better ++ in the ACT, and there is better back up and infrastructure.
Big problem is that model for the hospital is of a rural district one…….but practical reality is that it’s a suburb of a big city, with a major teaching hospital, 2 private hospitals and highly advanced diagnostic facilities within 15 minutes.
And although there was a huge amount of money for building, there is very little for running / recruiting.
I cannot see a solution without ACT Health taking over.
Also important to note, that of the people making the most noise, the opposition are clearly not objective, and the local GP’s are mostly upset that a place that has been their personal (highly lucrative) fiefdom for 25 years, is attempting to drag itself into the 21st century.

Surgery in Quangers – you too can have a turd where your brain used to be.

Most things could do with de-centralising to restore dignity and indeed the funds to our public full stop.

The NSW opposition’s view on Queanbeyan Hospital….

LABOR’S GSAHS FAILS: QUEANBEYAN HOSPITAL VMO’S DOWN 50 PER CENT

“Most of these resignations were a direct result of frustrations with GSAHS over clinical governance and management issues” 9th June 2009, Southern General Practice Network

Reports from the Southern General Practice Network reveal that the number of Visiting Medical Officers (VMO’s) working at the new Queanbeyan Hospital have dropped by more than 50 per cent which has resulted in the hospital operating at only 20 per cent of its capacity, Shadow Minister and Duty Member for Monaro Melinda Pavey said today.

The number of VMO’s has dropped from 16 to seven due to the lack of medical equipment such as imaging equipment, lack of confidence in the complaints mechanism and the extremely poor pathology reporting system.

Mrs Pavey has spoken with local doctors who say that there are three operating theatres that should be used for approximately 120 sessions per month, yet last month they were used for as few as 23 sessions.

“The NSW Labor Government’s failure on health has allowed the GSAHS to get to the point where doctors refuse to work in public hospitals because they fear they will be exposed to medical liability due to the unsafe environment,” Mrs Pavey said.

“It defies belief that the new Queanbeyan Hospital, which was announced with great fanfare by local MP Steve Whan, has no diagnostic imaging equipment that is crucial for diagnosing strokes and there is no staff to operate ultrasound equipment.

“Local doctors are being forced to leave the hospital because their morale has gotten so low that they have no faith or confidence in Labor’s health system to take any action on the serious safety issues they are continually reporting.

“Labor’s Area Health Services have failed. The Queanbeyan Hospital is in such an appalling state that when doctors urgently require access to patient pathology results they either get incorrect results, duplicate results or no results at all.

“The hard working doctors have been trying their hardest to work within the Labor health system, however they are faced daily with dangerous situations due to the failure of the NSW Labor Government to provide adequate resources.

“This is putting even more pressure on Canberra health services which are already overstretched given they are home to the longest wait for elective surgery in Australia.

“I have no doubt in my mind that Steve Whan and his NSW Labor Government’s incompetence is putting the lives of people at risk in the Monaro, and that these reports are just the tip of the iceberg.

“Steve Whan is in a unique position to fix these issues. He sits beside Nathan Rees and John Della Bosca at the Cabinet table, yet to date he has still failed to change this dire situation. He must do something to restore faith in the Queanbeyan Hospital.

“In contrast the Liberal/Nationals have been listening to the healthcare experts and have formulated positive, practical plans to de-centralise health management in NSW and to restore integrity and dignity to our public hospitals,” Mrs Pavey said.