Bricks falling from Modbury Hospital ‘symptom of neglect’

BRICKS falling off Modbury Hospital are symbolic of the facility “crumbling” from a major health centre to a second tier service, organisers of a community rally to be held on Sunday say.

Supporters say Modbury Hospital is ‘crumbling’, a symtom of neglect by the Weatherill Government.

BRICKS falling off Modbury Hospital are symbolic of the facility “crumbling” from a major health centre to a second tier service, organisers of a community rally to be held on Sunday say.

Bricks on a fourth floor balcony facade wall of the hospital’s main building fell apart on Monday about 3am during severe weather, prompting a safety audit.

No-one was hurt as bricks tumbled off the walls of the hospital, reduced to second tier status under the State Government’s Transforming Health reforms, aimed at increasing efficiency while saving money.

“We had engineers out on site analysing the brick cladding around the hospital and they’re finalising a report for us so we have a better understanding of any issues that need to be resolved,” a spokesman said.
“As a precaution we have secured the ground areas underneath brick cladding areas until we have the results of the report.”

Bricks from a fouth floor balcony facade tumbled to the ground after severe weather on Monday, prompting a safety audit.

Modbury Hospital Local Action Group is holding a rally at 2pm on Sunday at the front of the hospital calling for services dumped under Transforming Health to be restored.

Spokesman Ken Case said the group had rallied for years in support of the hospital, including opposing the then-Liberal State Government’s outsourcing of its management to a private provider in the 1990s, and was dismayed at it current state.

“The bricks falling off are symptomatic of the neglect of this important community hospital — it’s crumbling,” he said.

“Patients arriving needing emergency care now are simply patched up and sent on to Lyell McEwin, or if in an ambulance they bypass it.

“We are concerned that the Modbury Hospital has become merely a surgery day clinic and an emergency triage centre, not a genuine emergency department.
“We did not campaign all those years to have the Modbury Hospital returned to the public only to be downgraded in this way.”

SA Health describes Modbury Hospital as “the major 23-hour and same-day elective surgery and rehabilitation hub for the North and North Eastern area” following the Transforming Health changes.

“More than $9 million will be invested at the site to build a modern, specialised Emergency Extended Care Unit alongside the Emergency Department,” SA Health notes.