14 April 2009

Bulli Hospital

The NSW Labor Government has no plan to shut Bulli Hospital – it never has.

Minister for Health, John Della Bosca, made this clear during a visit to the hospital today.

“Local services are very important to the NSW community and they are the door to the excellence of the entire system,” the Minister said.

“NSW has one of the best health care systems in the developed world, but we must meet the challenges of the future faced with an ageing population.

“As part of its Caring Together Health Action Plan, the NSW Government has adopted 134 of Commissioner Garling’s recommendations, after his inquiry into public hospitals.

“One of those recommendations is a state-wide review of all hospitals.

“That review will be conducted by clinicians over the next few months, with a focus on patient care and safety.

“They will report back to me so final decisions on hospital services can be made by the end of the year.

“The NSW Government is providing more funding to frontline services, enabling doctors and nurses to do their great work even better.

“An extra $485 million has been allocated over four years to enable:

• Separate rooms or ward bays wherever possible for male and female patients;
• The Nurse in Charge to focus on coordinating services and care around the needs of the patient, monitoring hygiene, patient meals, supervision of junior staff and patient communication;
• The responsibility of paperwork to fall to ward-based administrators or Clinical Support Officers;
• 30 new Clinical Initiative Nurses to be appointed to all major metropolitan and regional hospitals to improve communication with patients and reduce waiting times in  emergency departments. They will organise x-rays and pain relief and monitor the patient’s condition;
• Medical Officers to admit patients to wards after being assessed as ready for admission;
• An extra 64 Clinical Pharmacists to be appointed to hospital wards, improving patient safety by monitoring the type, quantity, past use and combination of prescription medicines;
• The removal of travel costs for pensioners and health care card holders who travel more than 100 kilometres for specialist treatment;
• An extra 20 specialist trainee doctors to be appointed in outer metropolitan and regional areas for orthopaedics, general surgery and general medicine;
• Home-based care for more patients with chronic and complex conditions and;
• Executive Medical Directors to be appointed as locally-based decision-makers in all hospitals.

“As I announced last month, clinical staff and Area Health Service management have agreed ear, nose and throat day surgery will remain at Bull Hospital.

“Also, in consultation with local doctors, orthopaedic and ophthalmic surgery currently undertaken at Bulli will be transferred to Shellharbour Hospital later this month.

“Seventy-three per cent of surgery undertaken at Bulli over the past 12 months, involved patients who live in Illawarra’s southern suburbs.

“Under the changes, any patients who experience difficulty in travelling to Shellharbour for ophthalmic and orthopaedic surgery will be provided with transport.

“This is a more efficient use of health resources and there’s no negative impact on surgical waiting lists.

“Bulli is a hospital in the South East Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service which has been allocated $1.79 billion this financial year, an increase of $46 million.

“This ongoing investment in health services is reflected in the great work undertaken at Bulli Hospital,” Mr Della Bosca said.

For a range of health information, go online to www.health.nsw.gov.au