NSW treasurer: Albury Wodonga Health faces major funding challenges

A shortage of space and beds are plaguing an Albury hospital, with its unique funding system the possible problem.

A shortage of beds was just one of the challenges witnessed by NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet when he visited Albury Base Hospital on Thursday.

Bed shortages, lack of space and capacity issues plaguing a border hospital have been highlighted at a recent public visit to the healthcare provider.

But part of the problem lies in the fact the Albury Base Hospital receives “ad hoc” funding from both the Victorian and New South Wales state governments.

The NSW Treasuer Dominic Perrottet visited the Riverina Highway hospital and said he had been “impacted” by the challenges staff face on Thursday, March 11.

Mr Perrottet said he witnessed a shortage of beds, space, and capacity to properly treat the number of patients coming through the healthcare centre.

“If you look at the numbers of patients here compared to other areas of NSW and Victoria, and where investment has been, more needs to be done,” Mr Perrottet said.

“It had an impact on me walking through the hospital and seeing first hand the challenges that are there.

“I‘m committing to you that it’s the role of our government to make sure the people of Albury have the best access to healthcare possible.”

Albury-Wodonga Health is run by the Victorian health department, and also partly funded by the NSW government, with hospitals operating in both states.
Mr Perrottet said he didn’t believe the Albury Base Hospital would be separated from the border’s health system at this stage.

“Our preference is that we should work together across governments,” he said.

“I commit today that I will certainly be speaking to my counterpart Tim Pallas about how we can work together more closely on this.”

“This isn’t about playing tit-for-tat, this is about putting politics to one side … because our job and our responsibility is to deliver the best services, and I think it would be best if we worked together constructively.”

Albury Wodonga Health chief executive Michael Kalimnios said the Treasurer’s visit was very timely as the provider was in the process of identifying the future needs of the service.

“The Clinical Services Plan looks at our population over the next 20 years and identifies the services we should be providing to the community,” Mr Kalimnios said.

“The Master Plan takes these finding and outlines the infrastructure needed to deliver the required services.

“Working together these two plans provided objective and clear evidence of what we, as a regional health service, need to invest in.”

Mr Kalimnios said one of the biggest issues AWH faced as a cross-border health services was “ad hoc” investment funding.

“From a funding perspective, the Master Plan is crucial as it provides accountability and guidelines when speaking to both State and Federal Governments about the investment required to provide clinical needs,” he said.