Federal Govt Not Willing To Bail Out Shellharbour - Yet
Illawarra Mercury
Friday August 24, 2007
THE Federal Government has refused to come to the aid of Shellharbour Hospital, which was recently downgraded by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
The college has withdrawn the hospital's doctor training accreditation, due to compromised patient safety, excessive workloads and limited trainee supervision. But a spokeswoman for Health Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday the Federal Government would not help Shellharbour at this stage."We are not considering it at the moment, as it is not under complete threat of closure," she said. "We recognise that there are many public hospitals where the services are not what they should be and that are not being funded properly by their state governments, but this is not something we would consider at this stage. The NSW Government should do more."Wollongong MP and NSW parliamentary secretary for health Noreen Hay disagreed, noting that $12.5 million had been spent at Shellharbour Hospital since July 2004. "There has been an increase in the number of full-time equivalent nurses by 21, there has been an increase in the number of general medical teams from three to four, there are 10 new beds and additional medical and nursing support, including a senior medical officer and a new CT scanner. "I don't think the message is getting through that the hospital has lost just one discipline and whilst we are disappointed, there are those who continue to stir up the community and I don't want them to think there has been a downgrade in services at Shellharbour as there hasn't."
© 2007 Illawarra Mercury
