Western Downs residents successful following Tara Hospital petition demanding consultation in upgrades

After months of petitioning and raising the question in state parliament, Tara residents have received an answer regarding the inclusion of public consultation for the redevelopment of the Tara Hospital. See what the plans are.

Tara residents have a win following petition for public consultation regarding hospital redevelopment.

Late last year the state government was asked why community members from a small Western Downs town weren’t consulted or notified about the major redevelopments happening to their hospital, and five months later they have answers.

To many residents in Tara, it came as a surprise when the government announced the town’s hospital would receive major upgrades such as adult mental health services, a palliative care unit and extra beds as the hospital’s auxiliary board hadn’t been contacted.

President of Tara Hospital Auxiliary, Beryl Bougoure and MP Member for Warrego, Ann Leahy petition for community input regarding Tara Hospital redevelopments. Picture: Contributed.

Many Tara locals like Sophie Bougoure claimed she was more than happy with the upgrades announcement however was shocked that there had been no community consultation involved and launched a petition demanding public involvement.

“We’re extremely happy they have put us forward for a new hospital but without community consultation we don’t know what we’re getting,” she said.

Member for Warrego Ann Leahy announced on Tuesday that after giving parliament 30 days to respond to Ms Bougoure’s petition Queensland Health would host a public consultation for the Tara Hospital redevelopment.

The consultation session will be held at Tara Soldiers Memorial Hal, Fry St Tara at 9am on Thursday March 30.

“This is a win for the Tara community,” Ms Leahy said.

The map is an aerial view of Tara Hospital, outlining expansion possibilities.

Ms Bougoure mirrored the sentiment and said she was happy with the result as she held a range of concerns about what the redevelopment would entail, including concerns of the geographic logistics of the plan, due to possible flooding.

“We’ve had a win, so I feel pretty good,” Ms Bougoure said.

“I spoke to a spokeswoman from Queensland Health this morning and said they would be answering my questions on Thursday during the consultation.”

Some of the questions Ms Bougoure has posed to the state government that will be answered during the consultation included, ‘Will the existing hospital be fully functioning during construction of the new facility?’ ‘Does the new build have room for expansion’ and ‘Will there be additional services such as ultrasound, X-rays and MRI scans?’

A letter was sent from the Health and Ambulance Services Minister Yvette D’Ath in response to Ms Bougoure’s petition that claimed staff consultation commenced early in the project, and other stakeholders were to be consulted throughout different stages of the development.

Originally published as Western Downs residents successful following Tara Hospital petition demanding consultation in upgrades