WHEN Health Minister Jillian Skinner was in Bathurst on Monday handing out cash to Daffodil Cottage and promising more cash for a new ambulance station, she also wanted to let locals in on what she called one of her department’s best-kept secrets.
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Ms Skinner spoke effusively about the work of Western NSW Local Health District CEO Scott McLachlan, saying he was one of the very best in the state.
“I don’t like to talk about him too much down in Sydney because I don’t want to see him poached,” Ms Skinner told the gathered throng at Daffodil Cottage.
And whether it’s Mr McLachlan’s doing or not, it’s hard not to admit that the fortunes of the LHD have turned around in the past 18 months, and Bathurst has been one of the beneficiaries.
When the community caught wind of plans to cut beds and nursing numbers at Bathurst Base Hospital in late 2013, the government response was to announce an independent review into the hospital’s operations.
Cynics – this newspaper, included – wondered whether the review was anything more than a stalling tactic to take some heat out of the issue, but it now appears the community will see real outcomes from the report.
A key recommendation of the review was a plan to boost the orthopaedic expertise at Bathurst Base to make it something of a regional hub for elective joint surgeries.
The rationale was that increased surgery volumes would lead to increased efficiencies and it was better to target areas of expertise than to try in vain to be everything to everyone.
That plan is now bearing fruit, with two new orthopaedic surgeons to start work in Bathurst within months.
That’s a great result for the hospital and a great result for the community.
And it’s the real sign we’ve craved for so long that the future of the hospital is being taken seriously by health bureaucrats.
