THE Bathurst Health Services Action Group believes that the availability of clinical services at Bathurst Base Hospital will not improve under the currently proposed Draft Bathurst Region Integrated Clinical Services Plan.
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In reality, Bathurst residents will continue to be forced to travel to Orange to access many basic clinical services that should be readily available at Bathurst Base.
The draft plan is typically painted in broad brushstrokes, full to the brim of words such as "enhance", "improve", "embrace" and "strengthen".
However, the draft plan fails on even a cursory view given that it is clearly based on the assumption that the level of clinical services currently available at Bathurst Hospital is adequate and therefore simply needs to be improved.
We do not accept this is the case.
The plan does not include any specific, actionable or measurable goals.
The only partially defined goal is the reference to creating "approximately one extra ward (acute overnight beds)", with this goal to be achieved some time within the next 10 years (2019-2029 Plan).
The use of broad and undefined terms also makes it effectively impossible to create any real accountability for failure to achieve required outcomes.
In terms of proposed service improvements for Bathurst, an example is the current proposal from the Western NSW Local Health District to "improve access to local emergency orthopaedic services" through the introduction of a Tuesday and Thursday morning service.
The Bathurst Health Services Action Group believes that this is very obviously inadequate.
Bathurst is a sporting town and to not have a 24/seven emergency orthopaedic service available is unacceptable, especially given how many injuries occur on weekends.
We are also very concerned about the availability of access to specialist services such as obstetrics/gynaecology and anaesthetics.
The action group believes that there is an immediate and urgent requirement to deliver more beds, nurses, specialists and the necessary equipment and resources to achieve the hospital's current designation as a "Base Hospital".
In our view, the current draft Bathurst Integrated Clinical Services Plan, couched in broad, undefined and ambiguous terms, with aims set to be achieved some time within the decade of 2019-29, effectively achieves nothing except 'ticking the box' on the compulsory community consultation required in its development.
We will not rest until we feel that Bathurst's needs are properly acknowledged and understood and that real actions are taken to address the deficiencies.
