Mayors united in call for independent investigation
Published on 05 June 2024
Three mayors from the New England region have united in calling on Health Minister Ryan Park to initiate an independent inquiry into Hunter New England Health’s support of, commitment to, and consultation with rural and remote communities regarding their local hospitals.
Narrabri Mayor, Cr Darrell Tiemens, praised the Health Minister for pausing the rollout of changes at Narrabri Hospital and acknowledging the immediate concerns about the proposed changes to pathology services.
"Minister Park has shown commendable interest so far. However, it’s time that this organisation was held to account,” Cr Tiemens said.
“Our community deserves better than for bureaucrats at Hunter New England Health to dictate the level of care we receive at our hospital”.
A call for action has been strongly supported in the local community, with over 500 community members attending a meeting at the Narrabri RSL Club on Tuesday night.
Despite an invitation, Hunter New England Health was not represented, although NSW Pathology did speak to the crowd.
During the meeting, five motions were unanimously adopted by the frustrated audience:
- We call on The Hon Ryan Park, the Health Minister, to initiate a fully independent inquiry into the proposal to close or downgrade the pathology lab at Narrabri Hospital.
- We call on Hunter New England Health to upgrade services that have bypassed Narrabri Hospital, including stroke diagnostics, onsite mental health services, improved oncology services, onsite dialysis machines, and equivalent technologies.
- We call on Hunter New England Health to restore both the Boggabri and Wee Waa Hospitals to the same service level they provided five years ago.
- We call on The Hon Ryan Park, the Health Minister, to initiate an independent review into Hunter New England Health’s support for remote and rural hospitals.
- The Narrabri community has no confidence in the current consultation process.
Mayor of Gunnedah Shire, Cr Jamie Chaffey, highlighted the severe impacts on his community.
"Our community has faced serious cutbacks at our hospital, including the closure of our only pathology lab. We don’t want what happened to Gunnedah Hospital to happen in Narrabri,” stated Cr Chaffey.
“This issue is symptomatic of health officials who fail to engage with regional areas and understand the unique needs of towns like Gunnedah and Narrabri”.
The Mayor of Moree Plains Shire Council, Cr Mark Johnson, expressed his support for an independent inquiry.
"The community of Moree Plains Shire stands with Narrabri Shire in their frustration over the lack of consultation,” said Cr Johnson.
“This appears to be a widespread problem within the organisation, and it needs to end. The Health Minister has the power to investigate Hunter New England Health, and we fully back calls to maintain levels of service at Narrabri Hospital”.
Narrabri Shire Mayor, Darrell Tiemens, is set to meet with the NSW Minster for Health on Friday.