EASTERN Health statistics and their vision for Healesville Hospital was challenged on Monday night, 10 December, as more than 280 people packed the Healesville Memorial Hall to provide “feedback” on the contentious Strategic Clinical Services Plan 2012-22.
An emotive and often emotional crowd called for the return of the ditched maternity services and retention of the surgery unit slated to go to Lilydale under the draft plan.
There was support for the provision of a dialysis unit as proposed in the plan, but not as an alternative to surgery. There was also considerable support for the hospital to be taken out of the Eastern Health’s hands altogether and funded as a rural hospital for the Yarra Valley and surrounding communities.
The underpinning question was whether the meeting was about consultation, or simply feedback, and whether the views of the community would be incorporated into the draft plan to be put to the Eastern Health board.
Eastern Health CEO Alan Lilly said while the plan would stand as drafted, the feedback from the meeting, and in written submissions, would be conveyed to the board, prompting a motion by ‘lobbyist’ Kersten Gentle that a community deputation meet with the board.
The motion which was carried overwhelmingly, called on Eastern Health to “include their misguided decision to close maternity services in the current draft paper so the overwhelming community objection can be taken into consideration”.
It called also for a committee including local doctors and nurses be given the opportunity to see Eastern Health’s final report on ‘feedback’ and to address the board before a final decision is made.
Faced with a range of questions from a broad cross-section of the Yarra Valley communities serviced by Healesville Hospital and Yarra Community Health heard Eastern Ranges CEO Alan Lilly put the case for the plan which he said aimed to meet the changing needs of the communities.
“We are trying to get the right mix of services for Healesville recognising we can’t provide everything in Healesville,” he said.
He spoke of some of the changing needs including dialysis and mental health services saying the need for mental health services was something that continued to grow, particular with young people.
A number of health care professionals, including local midwives and nurses working in the current surgery unit spoke out publicly for the first time demystifying some of the issues dealt with in the proposed SCS and challenging the statistics on which several of the proposed outcomes are based and Eastern Health’s interpretation of them, along with the motives behind them.
Dr Curruthers challenged in particular the numbers presented to support the axing of the surgery unit.
“There is a much higher need for surgery, you just won’t fund it,” he said at one stage.
Mr Lilly responded saying the funding was capped and that Eastern Health had to provide equity of access across the breadth and depth of Eastern Health’s network.
In relation to maternity services one mother said she questioned the rationale of axing the service rather than upgrading the service.
“If more than half the births are sent down the line why not increase the service rather than using it as an excuse to shift services down the line,” she said.
There was a general concensus that there was a lack of understanding of the geographic barriers people in the rural areas of Eastern Health’s 2,800 square kilometre range face and the logistics of travelling times and distances to Maroondah, Angliss and Box Hill hospitals.
Yarra Ranges Ryrie Ward representative Cr Fiona McAllister and O’Shannassy Ward’s Cr Jim Child along with Seymour MP Cindy McLeish addressed the meeting urging people to make a submission and to Eastern Health and to contact them with their concerns.
An onling feedback survey is available at www.easternhealth.org.au .
