“THE RAIN DOES NOT FALL MAINLY IN THE PLAIN”
The Beagle Editor,
A Statement from “ONE” New Level 4 Eurobodalla Hospital Advocates
The very recent rain infiltrations at Moruya Hospital are not a one-off but simply one more event in a depressing litany of problematic issues which have only grown in length and in seriousness. Those well remunerated by us to take administrative and political responsibility have done precious little other than duck, weave and/or filibuster literally over years.
Does our hard-pressed medical frontline, hanging on by the edge of its fingernails, deserve this? How obviously unfair on them, as well as on us! If this had happened in the office of one of our politicians in Macquarie Street how long would it have taken before it got fixed? Our State politicians need to wise up and seriously raise their game: They are not being paid to posture and preen in front of the media or to occupy themselves with merely throwing a shroud of hollow platitudes at us. We want ACTION, and action now: Not yet more words as we heard at the 2018 State elections such as “LET’S GET CRACKING”…And holding back on getting things properly started until 2023 is not ‘smart politics’. Community health is sacred territory and not for playing tawdry games of electoral advantage or popularity with. Woe betide those who do. As founding members of the ONE New Level 4 Eurobodalla Hospital Advocates Group, and as one who drove down to personally deliver the 3000+ signature Petition on behalf of the Eurobodalla Community and widely regarded Head Petitioner Dr Michael Holland to an absent Local Member’s Bega Office (despite timely forward notice and his presence in the constituency) we have some skin in this game. But a very significant detail appears to have slipped under the media’s normally gimlet-eyed radar. Closer scrutiny of the video footage above and also posted on the “ONE- One New Eurobodalla hospital” Facebook Page reveals a further shocking reality. The flooding badly hit the ward where seriously premature babies, by definition in a critical health situation, are normally cared for under observation pending transfer to Canberra. This should never be happening in the first place, least of all this ward, and that it has, despite all the previous appeals for proper resourcing over many years, is totally unacceptable. The welfare of little newborns in deeply fragile health, and of mothers understandably worried out of their minds, is NOT something that can somehow wait until a more convenient time in the future. If Parliamentarians wouldn’t accept such delays for themselves why should their electors? Our 2018 Petition did nothing more than also strongly reiterate an earlier professional confirmation of the urgently overdue need for upgrading of core emergency services in the Eurobodalla such as Intensive, Perioperative and Perinatal Care. What has happened since that officially received assessment and since the Petition? You be the judge of the facts on the ground. The one small flickering light in this otherwise now depressingly familiar scenario is the arrival of a new Chief Executive for our health district, SNWLHD. For the long-suffering Eurobodalla residents Margaret Bennet is a long overdue breath of fresh air: And comes with a reputation for energetic proactivity and community engagement: qualities that have been in embarrassingly short supply in the years preceding her arrival. She will need to draw deeply on all those skills as she navigates the clearly overdue administrative changes which will free a moribund culture to become the responsive and flexible one that it should and needs to be. In turn, she must be given the unqualified support and backing of all those involved, the politicians and Health Department executive most especially, so that Eurobodalla’s Healthcare `and infrastructure may at long last become fit for purpose rather than the rag-tag basket-case it currently is: in brief, an unmitigated disgrace. Fitzroy and Mylène Boulting
Advocates: ‘ONE’ New Level 4 Eurobodalla Hospital.
