[Greens-Media] Bulli ED closure will risk lives

[John Kaye]

Bulli ED closure will risk lives  
 
Media release: 31 October 2012
 
The O'Farrell government's decision to scrap the 24 hour a day 7 days a week emergency department at Bulli will risk lives and severely compromise the speedy recovery of Northern Illawarra residents, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
 
Commenting on the release of the Health Care Services Plan 2012-2022-Working Together Building Healthy Futures, Dr Kaye said: "Despite massive community opposition, the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District Board has decided to push ahead with its dangerous cost-cutting plan to remove the emergency department at Bulli hospital.
 
"Northern Illawarra residents have every right to be disappointed and angry today. They have spoken loudly and clearly in favour of retaining the hospital as a 24 hours a day 7 days a week Level 2 emergency department, but their serious concerns have been completely ignored by the Board.
 
"This highly valued service is being lost and lives could be at risk. Any member of the local community who suffers a heart attack or experiences severe haemorrhaging between 10 pm and 7 am must now make their way to an already over-stretched emergency department at Wollongong, half an hour away.
 
"While the expansion of Shellharbour hospital is welcome for that growing community, the extra assistance should not come at the expense of residents who live in the northern end of the Illawarra.
 
"The O'Farrell government has abandoned the Northern Illawarra community and left them at the mercy of a local health board determined to push ahead with an untried and untested model of emergency care.
 
"The Greens will not be letting either the Board or the Health Minister Jillian Skinner off the hook on this. 
 
"I am still waiting for the Minister to explain exactly how this new model of emergency care provision will work and what impacts it will have on the nurses who currently work at Bulli hospital.
 
"Every person in NSW has a right to quality public hospital services including around-the-clock emergency care. The Northern Illawarra community is no exception. 
 
"The Greens will be holding Ms Skinner accountable when lives are put at risk by this dangerous, untried plan," Dr Kaye said. 
 
For more information: John Kaye 0407 195 455