IN a time of flux for health services in Bathurst - which includes the recent announcement of a $200 million redevelopment of Bathurst Hospital and the signs of a developing health precinct around the hospital site - a group of locals have been meeting regularly in recent months to examine the topic from all angles.
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Group members have experience in the health system, heritage and the public service, according to group spokesmen Stuart Pearson and Greg Madden, and they say their aim is to ensure the city has the health services it needs in the appropriate location.
Earlier this month, the group argued the case for upgrading Bathurst's public hospital to a higher classification.
Here, Mr Pearson, on behalf of the group, argues the case for co-locating medical facilities in the Bathurst Health Precinct.
The NSW Government is convinced that consolidating private and public health services into one location (known as a "precinct") results in significant economic, social and health benefits to the community.
Masterplans for precincts have already been implemented or are in the process of being planned across many locations in NSW, such as Dubbo, Randwick, Illawarra, Coffs Harbour, Wagga Wagga, Orange and Westmead.
One such development - Randwick Health and Knowledge Precinct - is set to become the most comprehensive and largest co-located health precinct in Australia.
In 2018, a precinct plan was prepared for Bathurst by respected strategic advisers Destravis Group, titled Bathurst Health and Knowledge Precinct Plan.
It was commissioned by NSW Planning, Industry and Environment, in collaboration with Bathurst Regional Council, Western NSW Local Health District and Charles Sturt University.
For reasons that remain unknown, the final precinct plan has yet to be made public, but if it follows all the other health precinct plans conducted elsewhere in NSW, then it will call for private and public health services to be co-located in a two-block radius around Bathurst public hospital.
While the geographic area of the Bathurst Health Precinct has not yet been formally marked out, Bathurst Regional Council has already committed to defining a health precinct and co-locating as many allied medical services into that area as possible (Vision Bathurst 2040: Bathurst Region Local Strategic Planning Statement).
In accordance with this strategic direction, the NSW Ambulance service recently relocated its Bathurst station from the CBD to the proposed Bathurst Health Precinct.
Further, in the past few years, a major physiotherapy practice has also moved its facilities to within a block of Bathurst Hospital and less than a month ago a major medical practice opened its doors only 500 metres from the public hospital.
Experience has shown NSW Health that where facilities are separated by more than a kilometre, patient transfers can only be carried out with the assistance of the NSW Ambulance service, or similar private transport at a considerable additional cost.
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If the facilities are co-located, patients can be transferred easily on a mobile emergency hospital bed, accompanied by appropriate medical staff.
Similarly, nurses, medical staff and ancillary personnel can move easily and quickly between each facility, often by a short walk.
Finally, doctors and specialists can save time and money by moving between private and public clinics, as well as patients in either facility, without the need for a car journey.
Bathurst should follow the preferred model of health precincts that the NSW Government has adopted almost everywhere else in NSW.
Specifically, private and public medical facilities should be co-located into one precinct, not scattered across a city at random.
Co-location can save lives. A fragmented health service jeopardises them.