Corryong and local community show up in numbers for big hospital fight
Towong Shire Mayor Andrew Whitehead said that that the strong show of support at the rally was further evidence that communities in the North East know they are currently being short-changed on healthcare and that they will be for at least a generation to come if the current proposal to redevelop Albury Hospital proceeds.
“I want to thank the people of Corryong and the wider community in and around Towong Shire for showing up in such large numbers on Sunday. Seeing the Memorial Hall full on a Sunday in winter shows the level of worry, despair and anger people are feeling in the North East about being treated as second class citizens when it comes to healthcare delivery.
“The community here in the North East now feels like it is simply out of sight and out of mind in the eyes of the Victorian and New South Wales governments. The community feels so let down because the governments in Melbourne and Sydney keep saying that the redevelopment will meet the future needs of the community, yet they will not come here and explain how themselves. If we are getting it so wrong, come and explain to us why. Instead, so much correspondence remains unanswered, and invitations remain completely ignored.
“Towong Shire Council invited the Victorian Treasurer and Member for Northern Victoria Region Jaclyn Symes, Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas and NSW Health Minister Ryan Park to Sunday’s rally and we received no responses from them or their offices.
“Personal experiences shared at the rally painted the picture of a healthcare system that has let us so many of us down, me included. And it unveiled data that confirms this, and data that paints a grim picture of the future if the current deeply flawed redevelopment goes ahead.
“And despite all of this, the rally confirmed how admired and respected our North East doctors, nurses and other medical professionals are. But they are forced to work in suboptimal facilities.”
Guest speaker at the rally Stan Stavros, Director - Better Border Health, shared data that proved that Albury–Wodonga is missing out on its fair share of healthcare funding:
“Albury Wodonga Health is not a small country hospital. It is the largest regional health service between Sydney and Melbourne, serving one of the biggest inland populations in Australia, equal in size to Bendigo and Ballarat, and behind only Canberra and Toowoomba. It is the largest in-land community in Australia.
“But despite its size and importance, Albury Wodonga Health has far fewer hospital beds, operating theatres, and dialysis chairs, than comparable and significantly smaller centres.
Acute in-patient beds:
Bendigo | 460 |
Ballarat | 407 |
Albury Wodonga | 272 |
Wagga Wagga, Tamworth, Orange, Lismore (all far smaller than Albury Wodonga) | <272 |
Elective surgery waiting lists:
Albury Wodonga’s elective surgery waiting list is approximately 3,000 people. That is:
- 50% more than Bendigo, Ballarat, and Geelong
- 50% more than one of the largest hospitals in Melbourne, The Alfred.
- By far the largest wait list in regional Victoria and exceeded only by two large metro hospitals in the entire state.
“Every single day, Albury Wodonga Health is short between 30 to 70 beds which means it is currently running at 110%–125% capacity. When there are no beds, patients cannot be admitted and ambulances are ramped outside for hours, unable to unload patients and return to their towns.
“Ramping of ambulances at Albury Hospital has become an all-too-common occurrence and the effects of this ripple deeply into the entire North East region.
“For example, in Corryong, one ambulance crew covers the whole area. A return trip to Albury takes four hours without delays. If ambulances are ramping at Albury Hospital that could result in at least six hours or more and that’s six hours with no ambulance in Corryong - and if it happens overnight the town can be without cover for up to 16 hours.
“People in our region have stopped calling 000 altogether, instead driving loved ones with seizures, chest pain, or trauma to hospital themselves because they simply do not believe an ambulance will get there in time.
“Directly because of this lack of beds, we have seen elderly patients from Corryong discharged from Albury Wodonga Health in the middle of the night with no transport, no money, and no plan. These patients often have no other options other than to call volunteers in desperation, who are doing an incredible job to scramble and find them a bed in a motel, or drive dangerous rural roads in the dark to get them home safely. Others are taking risks on those roads themselves, driving to Albury between 1am and 5am just to avoid long ED waits.
“This is the level of desperation we have reached here in the North East. The current proposed redevelopment of the existing Albury Base Hospital that will add just 35 beds in 4-5 years’ time and it will not even come close to cover the CURRENT shortfalls. An additional 150-200 beds is what is required to meet our needs in 4-5 years’ time, not 35.
“We need proper investment that reflects our population, and our role as a major inland health hub. It should come as no great shock that our local doctors have called it “a shinier version of the same,” and the same means continued bed block, ambulance ramping, and longer waits.”
Towong Shire Mayor Andrew Whithead added: “The truth is the real solution has already been identified: in 2021, a comprehensive masterplan, underpinned by the 2021 Clinical Services Plan, was developed. It involved clinicians, state government officials, Albury Wodonga Health executives, and community members.
“That plan overwhelmingly recommended a new hospital on a new site, a greenfield development that would finally give our community the capacity, flexibility, and future growth we need.
“Each of our speakers at the rally added to already overwhelming evidence that the North East is getting short changed on healthcare and will do so for a generation to come if the current redevelopment of Albury Hospital goes ahead.
“Our community now feels like the real border up here is not the one on the map between NSW and Victoria but one between the communities here and the governments of Victoria and NSW.
“Finally, I would like to warmly thank all our guest speakers who gave up their Sunday to talk about this critical issue for our community:
- Cr Michael Gobel, Mayor Wodonga City Council
- Cr Kevin Mack, Mayor Albury City Council
- Dr Lachlan McKeeman, Deputy Secretary of the Border Medical Association
- Stan Stavros, Director, Better Border Health
- Pastor Carol Allen, Corryong
- Kate Wheeler, Corryong
- Russell and Robyn Kelly, Mitta Valley
ENDS
For interview requests and images from the rally please contact Andrew Scannell, Coordinator Communications and Customer Service, Towong Shire Council on 0403 117 066.
