Janet Mays

I welcome Mr Koperberg’s announcement of a “major public meeting” (BMG 12/9/07) to discuss the review of Katoomba and Springwood hospitals at a date and venue to be decided.

The format of this meeting is important and I hope the community will be afforded a genuine opportunity to share their views on the hospital needs of Mountains residents. Sufficient time must be allowed for questions and open discussion.

Mr Koperberg also referred to a “tri-hospital system – within the range of one hour’s drive”. This is intriguing, particularly when you consider the draft 2007 BM Community Plan which states: 1 in 10 households in the Mountains do not have access to a car; we have an aging population, with the highest projected growth in the Upper Mountains; there is inadequate community transport to enable residents to access health services outside of the Mountains and there is inadequate access to ambulance services for remote Mountains towns.

Further, according to SWAHS, the level of diabetes, asthma, heart attack, injury, stroke and cancer is higher than the State average in Penrith, the Blue Mountains and Lithgow. I hope this statistic will be considered when SWASHS determines the range of local services to be provided to Mountains residents.

Hospital access is an equity issue. The community needs to question the rightfulness of a policy that promotes patient transfers for routine matters to Nepean hospital and beyond. Not only is this policy impractical due to limited ambulance resources, it is environmentally unsustainable and places an additional social and financial burden on Mountains residents.

Letter published in the Blue Mountains Gazette 26 September 2007