COUNCILLOR Warren Aubin is ready to push for better health services in Bathurst after an unexpected hospital trip opened his eyes to the reality of the problem.
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Last month, Dr Lachlan Host and health advocate John Kellett both addressed Bathurst Regional Council to deliver warnings about Bathurst's staffing shortages.
Their concerns added to those raised by Environmental Planning and Building Services director Neil Southorn recently, who highlighted that Orange was like "a single hub for health services in the region".
While Cr Aubin was attentive, he didn't truly realise the magnitude of the problem until he spent the night in the Bathurst hospital emergency department on Sunday.
He presented to the ED at around 6.30pm on Sunday with excruciating pain, which later turned out to be the result of a kidney stone.
It wasn't until early Monday morning that he found out he would be going to Orange for surgery, when a doctor was informing staff starting their shifts about his case.
Cr Aubin said he arrived in Orange around 9am and was taken into surgery just before 6pm that evening. Around 8.30pm that same night he was discharged.
He has since had to go back to Orange to see the specialist and will need to have a follow-up procedure in Orange.
Although saying the Bathurst hospital staff do a "stellar job", Cr Aubin said having to travel for relatively minor health issues simple wasn't good enough for Bathurst residents.
"For a simple disorder, it just doesn't make sense," he said. "Bathurst, with our projected growth, can't afford to have a health system like that."
While this is more of a state government issue, Cr Aubin said he felt council still had a role to play in conveying the severity of the situation.
With Bathurst's population forecast to be over 55,000 people by 2036, he felt it was crucial for the city to not rely so heavily on Orange's health service.
"We need a hub here as well," Cr Aubin said. "We're bigger and probably we are growing at a faster rate; it doesn't make sense why we don't have a hub here."
