Dr Danielle McMullen, President AMA (NSW) to the Eurobodalla, will be visiting the region on Thursday, 25 March 2021 on a fact-finding visit to talk with medical colleagues and to take the opportunity to see healthcare services and conditions on the ground for herself.
Dr Michael Holland, advocate and spokesperson for the One New Eurobodalla Hospital group will accompany Dr McMullen, taking in a wide arc of the Shire.
The visit will include Batemans Bay, Moruya and Narooma, taking scope of the Eurobodalla region and its current facilities whilst also including time for private meetings with residents in each locale to gauge their experiences of and views on current medical services in the region.
The discovery tour will also include a visit to the announced site for the Eurobodalla Regional hospital just south of Moruya township.
A member of the One New Eurobodalla Hospital Group told The Beagle "It is expected that some in the community may convey their concerns that, when opened, the new Hospital will track a similar trajectory as that of the new Bega Hospital when it first opened: A splendid new building to the eye but with limited resourcing for its internal operations.
"Given the community’s massive backing of the 2018 Petition, asking for a Level 4 (L4) Eurobodalla Hospital (approx. 3,300 final signature count), a key component of the Petition was the provision of the core services which delineate a proper Level 4 category Hospital. One of those core services is an Intensive Care Unit (ICU)."
"A hospital which does not have a properly resourced and fully functioning ICU is simply NOT a L4 Hospital, but merely an outwardly better-looking LEVEL 3 hospital," they said.
"The current Moruya hospital is already operating at level 3, but now clearly showing its age.
"Not only does the Eurobodalla have a larger resident population count than Goulburn or Bega (both of which have L4 Hospitals) which swells three to fourfold in peak holiday seasons, creating serious patient admittance pressures: It also has the highest Seniors and Aboriginal demographic of any Shire nationally bar the Gold Coast!
Looking forward to meeting Dr Danielle McMullen on Thursday and presenting their concerns members of the One New Eurobodalla Hospital Group said "In 2021 it remains totally anomalous that the closest ICU option for Eurobodalla patients, whose critical care by definition must involve speedy treatment, can instead anticipate a roughly one-and-a-half-hour journey by ambulance before that can happen. This option may well be administratively ‘convenient’, but it has little to do with either optimum medical intervention or best healthcare interests of Eurobodalla residents, infants and the frail and elderly alike."
