MEMBER for Bathurst Paul Toole says he expects the newly elected state Labor government to stick with the 2027 timeline for a $200 million redevelopment of Bathurst Hospital.
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But he has made clear that he will be keeping a close eye on the project and he has warned Labor not to shortchange Bathurst when it comes to the big build.
Mr Toole - who retained his seat comfortably on election night late last month and will remain NSW Nationals leader in opposition - has also raised the spectre of Labor's last, troubled hospital project in Bathurst.
The $200 million Bathurst Hospital redevelopment was announced by Mr Toole in June last year and a masterplan was unveiled in February this year, about a month out from the state election, which pointed to an expanded emergency department and maternity services; improved paediatrics, mental health, inpatient and outpatient services; and an expansion to Daffodil Cottage.
There will also be new car parking facilities, but where those new parks will be located is still being determined.
Information sessions were subsequently held in February and March to gather feedback to be considered during the design stage.
The timeline from the start has been for the project to be completed by 2027 and Mr Toole said he would be watching for Labor to meet that finish date.
"That is what the Local Health District is working towards," he said.
Then-shadow minister for health Ryan Park spoke about the redevelopment when he was in Bathurst in February this year to meet with the electorate's Labor candidate Cameron Shaw and healthcare workers.
He told the Western Advocate at the time that Labor would follow through with the plans for the redevelopment, but would be putting more attention on staffing the improved public hospital.
"We're not going to be cancelling hospital redevelopments, but our focus has got to be away from where the government has been for the last decade and that is, in my view, they haven't focused enough on the healthcare workers and the delivery of healthcare services within those hospitals," he said.
"There's been a focus on new hospitals and new buildings; there hasn't been a focus on how do we adequately staff them, and that's what I'm going to try and bring to the position if given the privilege by the people of NSW in a month's time."
Mr Shaw said there was no point "in having a really nice building with no staff in it".
"If we don't have the correct staff and the correct number of staff to run that, it's just going to be another empty hospital," he said.
Mr Park's visit in February - when he said healthcare workers had serious concerns about staff shortages and were feeling unsupported by hospital management - came soon after the shock loss of Bathurst Hospital's medical registrar training accreditation.
Mr Toole, meanwhile, said this week that the $200 million project needed to be completed properly even if it required more than the budgeted funds.
"Let's make sure we are not shortchanged," he said.
"We have $200 million for this hospital, but if it is going to be an extra $10 to $20 million, they [Labor] have to find it."
Step back in time
Mr Toole has been vocal in the past about the failures of the last Bathurst Hospital redevelopment about 15 years ago - when Labor was in power - and he provided a summary of those failures again this week, including doors too small to fit a wheelchair through them and sewage coming up through the pipes in the maternity wards.
"Last time, they [Labor] tried to cut corners," he said.
"We need to keep an eye on them to make sure we are getting the health facility that is needed for the next 20 to 30 years."
A ward-by-ward opening of what was then the new Bathurst Hospital started in mid-January 2008, but the first problems with the new facility were being reported only days later.
By late February, then-Health Minister Reba Meagher had announced she would be visiting Bathurst to meet with clinicians and health service management as the fallout continued.
Ian Sinclair, who was subsequently appointed to oversee the remediation, told the Western Advocate that there was "money and a will and a capacity to resolve these problems".
"It's not a picture we will be able to finish tomorrow," he said. "It will be ongoing. I would ask people to be realistic. Some things will take time."
Mr Toole said he will be keeping in close contact with local clinicians ("they are best placed to know what the needs are") and the Western NSW Local Health District in his new role in opposition as he watches this latest redevelopment's progress.
