Dr Simon Holliday: Forster GP says poor leadership and ‘safe seat’ of Myall Lakes hurt hospital hopes
A Forster doctor with more than 36 years experience has blamed poor political leadership for failing to deliver his Myall Lakes electorate the health services it needs. “It‘s a shemozzle. Our region has been very badly let down by our funding bodies and by our leadership.”
Mid-North Coast
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A leading Forster GP has delivered a scathing assessment of past and present government’s handling of health services in his electorate, blaming the historically safe seat of the Myall Lakes as one of the major factors for not delivering on pre-election hospital commitments.
Dr Simon Holliday, a medical practitioner of 36 years, has called the state of Manning Base Hospital “a shemozzle”, and squared the blame on government leaders for their inability to act on a hospital for Forster-Tuncurry.
“It’s a shemozzle … our region has been very badly let down by our funding bodies and by our leadership,” he said.
“To get a really good hospital takes a massive commitment of executive skills and political prioritisation and we are lacking both of these because we aren’t in a marginal seat.”
“This [Forster-Tuncurry Hospital] is a fantastic idea, and ideas are so good at making a politician sound like they’re doing something … really that’s the bottom line for politicians – they want everybody to know that they are working hard for their electorate.”
“I think seriously, we need rather than have great big ideas, to methodically and carefully do the best with what we’ve got and not go racing off and try and do some other great new idea in a half a**ed fashion.”
Dr Holliday has been a doctor in the Myall Lakes area for 26 years.
He said the idea of a hospital was first floated about 20 years ago at Failford. Today, he says he is still hearing the same rhetoric but just in a different location.
“Better health services, who is going to oppose that? Nobody,” he said. “The question is, are we doing the best we’ve what we’ve got now.
“We are not the centre of the Hunter New England because everything is very focused around Newcastle, and politically, we’re not very strong because we turn out and tick the box for the same party every single time no matter what.
He said the Manning-Great Lakes was the ‘rump of the Hunter New England.’
“Because we are a safe seat,” he said. “I am yet to see an election where they have a safe seat campaign, they only have marginal seat campaigns, so that’s why all the marginal seats get all the really nice hospitals with the bells and the whistles, and the safe seats get backbench seat warmers.”
Dr Holliday’s comments come following calls made by Myall Lakes MP Stephen Bromhead for his own government to allocate much-needed funding for Manning Base and Forster Hospitals.
An outpouring of need for a hospital in Forster for decades lead to the community raising funds themselves to purchase land and build the Cape Hawke Community Private Hospital.
Mr Bromhead said last week that a clinical services plan for Forster Public Hospital and the $100 million stage 2 upgrade of Manning Base Hospital is complete.
“These projects are moving forward and will be delivered as promised by the NSW Government,” he said.
He refuted the suggestion that safe seats miss out on funding, saying there was ‘zero merit’ to the claim.
“When I got into office in 2011 Manning Base Hospital was in danger of losing its accreditation due to both a lack of services and doctors.”
“Since my election the Manning Base hospital has turned a corner.
“We’ve doubled their recurring funding allowing for a hoard of new recruitment to improve services and levels of care.
“We’ve recruited new oncologists, anaesthetics, paediatricians, obstetrician, psychiatrist and many more vital roles that are improving our local health care standards.
“These improvements are attracting health care workers to our region, the last round of recruitment for 10 full time registrar positions garnering a massive 280 applicants.”
“These positive steps have been paired with the stage one $40 million dollar upgrade to Manning Base Hospital which delivered a new imaging department, enhanced cancer care, and renal dialysis services, consultation rooms for visiting specialists and more.
“There is zero merit to the claim that safe seats miss out on funding.”
He went on to say that other major funding projects have included $18 million to build a new Taree police station, $368 million for the Bulahdelah bypass and $15 million for Cedar Party Creek Bridge.
“It’s not just bricks and mortar that have seen improvement with numbers boosted for police, teachers, nurses and other vital public servant roles.
A NSW Health Infrastructure spokeswoman told The Mid-North Coast News stage two of the Manning Base Hospital Redevelopment was due to start “prior to March 2023”.
“The clinical services plan outlines the services, direction and priorities for the Lower Mid-North Coast clinical services, including Manning Base Hospital and facilities for Forster-Tuncurry,” she said.
“The NSW Budget 2019-2020 Election Commitments confirmed planer for three new health projects including progressing planning for the Forster-Tuncurry facilities in the current term of Government.”
Dr Holliday said the thought of working at Manning Base Hospital in its current state was not attractive to medical professionals.
“If you’re a specialist, and you can’t get what you want, you won’t go there [Manning Base].
“If you’re the only specialist in your field and you can’t get support, why would you want to be seven days on call in a hospital where you can’t do what you want to do?
“You wouldn’t, you’d go to where you can go and have all the toys you want, all the things that you’d trained years and years to do, you’d want all the resources to be able to do exactly what you want – but at the moment, we don’t have that at Manning Base hospital.
“If we got a proper Manning Base Hospital it could be a centre of excellence.”
Sadly, he said that rural and regional hospitals just don’t get the same funding as their metropolitan counterparts.
“If we could have world-grade metropolitan hospitals in every country town with more than 20,000 people than that would be fabulous, but you know the health budget could swallow the entire state budget.”
A Hunter New England Local Health District spokesperson said the NSW Government continues to invest in Manning Hospital to ensure it meets the health needs of the community.
“Including a $40-million purpose-built facility to provide enhanced cancer care, renal dialysis services and imaging services,” the spokesperson said.
“An additional $100 million has been committed by Government to the Hospital and we’re in the final stages of clinical planning for that investment.
“The NSW Government is investing $800 million additional funding into the health system over two years on top of the 2019-20 Health Budget of $26.7 billion to help boost ICU capacity and purchase additional services and medical equipment in response to COVID-19.”