The Mayors of Albury, Wodonga and Indigo Shire, along with the Deputy Mayor from Towong Shire and representatives from the Regional Alliance of Councils, have issued a united response to the key findings of the NSW Health Special Commission of Inquiry into the Albury Wodonga Regional Hospital project.
Led by The Honourable Justice Richard Beasley, the Inquiry was established to examine how the NSW public health system is working, including how it's funded. Over the course of almost 70 hearing days, the Commission listened to the voices of health experts, frontline workers, patients and community members across the state.
A dedicated chapter of the final report focused on Albury Wodonga Health and the proposed redevelopment of Albury Hospital. The findings raised serious concerns, finding:
“The money said to be available for health infrastructure should not drive service delivery. Rather, any infrastructure spend should be based on what the health service needs of the catchment population are and will be, which themselves will be based on a variety of factors such as (but not limited to) population growth, ageing profile, and various socio-economic factors.
“There is little evidence to suggest that the proposed redevelopment of the Albury Hospital was based on this kind of analysis. Equally, there is little to suggest that the proposed redevelopment of Albury Hospital has had meaningful regard to the views of the medical and other clinical workforce of Albury Wodonga Health, of management, or of the community.”
Albury Mayor Kevin Mack said the key findings exposed a flawed process.
“The NSW and Victorian Governments have not followed due diligence. They’ve failed to engage with the community, ignored the 2021 Clinicians’ Plan advocating for a greenfield development, and appear to be designing the project to match the funding, rather than what’s actually needed,” Mayor Mack said. “Our community needs to be heard.”
To date, $558 million has been committed by the NSW and Victorian Governments, including $20 million from the Federal Government, for the redevelopment of the existing brownfield hospital site in Albury. However, local leaders and medical professionals argue the investment is being made without the necessary strategic planning, consultation or alignment with the region’s long-term health needs.
The alliance said it will continue to push for a new hospital, on a new greenfield site.
Wodonga Mayor Michael Gobel said it’s time both state governments started listening to the community – a cross-border catchment of more than 300,000 people.
“What we have here is a damning report, a smoking gun, that validates all the comments made by our 206 clinicians, by our 13 councils that make up the alliance, by our community, by Better Border Health and Border Medical Association, validating what we’ve been saying about this project,” Mayor Gobel said.
The alliance has raised its concerns with the Auditor-General of both the NSW and Victorian Governments and has requested an urgent meeting with the Albury Wodonga Health board to ask how the current redevelopment plan was endorsed.
Through the Federal Member for Indi, Helen Haines, the councils are also seeking a second meeting with Federal Minister for Health, Mark Butler, to discuss the latest developments and next steps.
“I think there’s an opportunity for a hero to step up and say this is not good enough for us,” added Albury Deputy Mayor Jessica Kellahan.
The NSW Government will consider and develop a response to the inquiry’s findings.