A poor consultation process and lack of communication have come back to haunt the Central West Hospital and Health Service and its decision to relocate the medical centre at Blackall.
Debate over the location of a proposed new hospital has been a topic of dissension in the community for some years, but it was when it became public knowledge last December that the board had decided to co-locate the doctor’s surgery with an eight-bed hospital on the current hospital site on the edge of town, that mutters turned into a roar.
Blackall’s representative on the board, Peter Skewes, tendered his resignation in January after it was suggested he had a conflict of interest – as the president of the Barcoo Retirement Village he asked the board to reconsider its decision to relocate the medical practice to the current Blackall Hospital site when the redevelopment takes place – and is now planning a petition to state parliament.
He was among a number of speakers who addressed a packed Community Advisory Network meeting in Blackall in early February, at which Blackall’s Director of Nursing Frances Harlow led the general public through the decision-making process.
Although it was the first time most had had been shown the pros and cons leading to the final decision on where to locate the hospital, and therefore the medical centre, CWHHS board chairwoman Jane Williams said the decision had been made last August and wouldn’t be revisited.
That was reiterated in a flier in the local paper last week, along with the chastising comment that “Blackall has been at the top of the funding pile two or three times before, only to have community dissent collapse the opportunity every time”.
Mr Skewes said using fear as a persuasive element was “an empty threat” because the government urgently needed to sort out Workplace Health and Safety issues at the hospital.
In 2013, the Queensland Country Life reported on a visit by then-Health Minister Lawrence Springborg to the facility, describing a structure with rotting timber, asbestos and unsafe floorboards
“If we get what the community needs, it (a delay in building) will be worth it,” Mr Skewes said.
“I’ve been involved in the building of the Aquatic Centre, the Cultural Centre and the aged care facility in Blackall.
“They were all surrounded by controversy but all are the envy of the west now.”
Mr Skewes initially agreed to siting a new hospital and medical centre together at the current hospital location rather than having a hospital built on crown land in town, but he told the CAN meeting he had been “bullied and coerced” into that opinion.
He has since re-assessed the distance elderly residents will be faced with to visit the doctor, saying people’s health would decline as they found it too hard to access the service.
“People brought over from Tambo in an emergency will be stuck on the edge of town away from shops that can supply their needs,” he added. “I’ve been approached many times over the years by people saying, get the hospital in town.”
Barcoo Retirement Village spokesman Owen Stockwell said his members wanted medical services to continue in the existing surgery beside the complex, or in one nearby.
The percentage of Blackall’s population over 65 is projected to grow from 382 to 727 people, a 90 per cent increase, in the next 20 years, which will require ongoing expansions to the Village’s independent living units and beds in the aged care centre.
Blackall-Tambo mayor Andrew Martin said this was more reason to have all medical services on the outskirts of town, rather than limiting retirement expansion options.
He told the CAN meeting the council was pursuing community growth by promoting the region as a retirement venue.
“We’re trying to grow the town, not shrink it back onto itself,” he said.
While telling the CAN meeting council was “not asking for one thing or another, what we’re asking for is the maximum value possible”, he has since come out firmly in support of the CWHHS decision.
“I can’t think of a better outcome,” he said. “These people know what they’re doing; it’s win-win-win.
“The Alpha Hospital (the state’s first co-located emergency services facility) is all lit up at night – that would be an absolute nightmare in the middle of town.
“I consider the issue to be over.”
The area available at the current hospital is 4ha, giving space for future expansions, while the block of land in the town is 1ha in size, providing limited opportunity for growth.
The evaluation that the current site has less flood issues than the proposed site, diagonally opposite Blackall’s Catholic School, drew audible laughter at the CAN meeting, with a number in the audience able to recall the sight of the hospital facing isolation and possible evacuation in the 1990 record flood.
Siting the hospital in town was argued against as providing traffic snarls at school opening and closing times.
Mr Skewes said the main reason the HHS eventually chose the current hospital site for redevelopment came down to money.
According to Ms Harlow, it will cost $14.3m to build on the current site and $17.8m to build in town.
“Alpha was offered $14m, with a community of 450 people. We’re servicing a population more than six times that size – why not give us more money,” Mr Skewes said.
It was in that light that Queensland Health’s forward planning and use of public funds was questioned at the meeting.
As well as spending $1.8m on a new doctor’s surgery in recent years, it also built a new doctor’s residence at the hospital, which would need to be relocated for the hospital redevelopment to proceed, and spent an unknown amount of money on refurbishing the former dental surgery in town for accommodation.
“The Tahitian Prince had nothing on Queensland Health for mismanaging taxpayer money,” former mayor Barry Muir said.
He called for proper consultation to occur to “get a result that most will support and one that will be convenient for the residents of the town, not just Queensland Health”.
A speaker at the CAN meeting raised the possibility of using the current doctor’s surgery as an outpatient venue in future, and a headquarters for allied health, which is understood to be the subject of further discussions taking place between the Barcoo Retirement Village and CWHHS on March 1.
Board chairwoman Jane Williams has asked the public to “get excited about the opportunity that’s available right now”.
“We will work with you to make it work,” she said.
The Member for Gregory, Lachlan Millar said if he was asked, he would present a petition to the Legislative Assembly.
“My job is to listen to all sides and make sure all in the community have a say,” he said. “What’s certain is that Blackall needs a new hospital and I’ll be working to make that happen.”