By JESSE GRAHAM
THE Save Healesville Hospital Action Group (SHHAG) has reacted with outrage to a government announcement last week that could alter the course of their campaign.
SHHAG has been campaigning for over a year to undertake an independent case study into the future of the Healesville and District Hospital.
The study would determine whether the hospital would be better off under Eastern Health or moving to become an independent health service, and is in its preliminary stages, awaiting the release of financial data by the Ministry of Health.
However, an email sent to the Mail last week has thrown the future of the case study into question, with Health Minister David Davis announcing that the Health Department has undertaken a study of its own.
Mr Davis said that a review commissioned by the department “assessed how local health agencies would operate as a small rural health service, as opposed to being part of Eastern Health.”
The health agencies mentioned are the Healesville and District Hospital, Yarra Valley Community Health and the Monda Lodge Hostel.
“The report shows that separation from Eastern Health would mean the Healesville health agencies would face significant new administration costs that are currently delivered by Eastern Health,” Mr Davis said.
“This is money better directed to local patient care,” he said.
SHHAG Chair, Fiona McAllister, said the group’s first reaction was to see this as an act of “contempt” against the group, who had raised $80,000 in donations to undertake the case study.
“We’ve been very open and communicated frequently with the minister, both with meetings and with letters,” she said.
“I have to say their response makes us immediately suspicious that they’re not willing to enter into a transparent and robust process to look at the best future of our health services,” she said.
Ms McAllister said that SHHAG had not received any formal notification from Mr Davis, and that they only became aware of the government’s case study and report when contacted by the Mail.
She said that, in their last correspondence, the minister had indicated that he would release Eastern Health’s financial data for the hospital to the group.
However, that meeting was a month ago, and Ms McAllister said the group has heard nothing since.
She said that SHHAG’s own case study could go ahead, even if the minister chooses not to release Eastern Health’s financial data to them, but that it would alter its course and outcome.
“We can still do service profiling and look at what our community needs – there are other options available,” Ms McAllister said.
“But, clearly, we want to make the best use of the money that the community worked hard to raise, and the more we have for that, the better.”
The Mail contacted Minister Davis’s office, and asked whether the minister could confirm that the Eastern Health data would be released for the case study.
An inquiry was also made as to whether the Health Department’s report Mr Davis mentioned would be released.
A spokesperson for Mr Davis replied: “this is an extensive report that looks at all background information.”
Community members and groups, including Friends of Forestry, Healesville’s Bendigo Bank Community Bank Branch and Casey MP Tony Smith have all supported SHHAG’s business case campaign financially.
The Healesville and District Hospital is being upgraded over the coming two years, following $7.8 million in funding from the State Government.
The entirety of the funding was allocated in the recent State Budget, and works are expected to be complete by mid-2016.
