Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I advise the House that finally Hunter New England Health and Pulse Health Limited have entered into an agreement to provide public inpatient services for low-acuity patients who are residents of the Great Lakes District, at Forster Private Hospital, formerly known as Cape Hawke Private Hospital. I have been publicly campaigning for this moment to arrive since being re-elected in 2001. I have raised petitions and worked with my community and together we have fought hard for this outcome. Today signifies the beginning of a much brighter future for residents in the Great Lakes region who seek access to local, public, low-acuity medical services.

Low-acuity services refer to hospital treatment and care that does not require the full-time attention of a specialist. The care to be provided includes patients awaiting placement in residential aged-care facilities that require medical attention and supervision, medical and post-operative patients that need ongoing hospitalisation, patients requiring low-level rehabilitation and palliative-care patients. This development will assist many people in the local area who have previously found it a heavy burden to travel the 34 kilometres to Manning Base Hospital to receive treatment.

In September 2007 when I announced federal funding for the after hours GP service for Forster-Tuncurry located at the annexe of the hospital, I used the opportunity to renew my call for the 20 public beds to be leased at the private hospital. The New South Wales government health minister responded that they would provide 20 public beds at Forster Private Hospital by December 2007. It is now March 2009. This Labor promise was delayed by over 15 months by an incompetent state Labor government, who continually postponed the process and caused a lot of heartache for ill and aged-care patients and their families in the process.

Karen Devinish, General Manager of Forster Private Hospital, and her staff were overjoyed at the news of the development which will provide positive implications for the Great Lakes region. In a release Ms Devinish said:

The agreement follows many years of discussions and negotiations with the Area Health Service and NSW Health Department and signifies what can be achieved for the community when Public and Private health sectors work together.

The New South Wales state Labor government dragged the chain for long enough and it was about time they got their act together and provided quality health services for the Great Lakes region. I am satisfied by today’s outcome which will mean that there are 20 more public beds available to the Forster-Tuncurry community. This project will be valued in excess of $2 million per year and the contract is for a period of five years, after which contract renewal will be looked at.

I commend Karen Devinish and her team at Forster Private and Nigel Lyons at Hunter New England Health for all their hard work and their dedication on this issue. Forster Private Hospital look forward to receiving their first patient under the new regime today and I wish them every success in their future.