Pambula District Hospital came out the winner when the Greater Southern Area Health Service (GSAHS) met with Bega Valley Shire councillors and the Save Pambula Hospital Action Group (SPHAG) on Monday.
It was the second such meeting held, and like the first resulted in a positive outcome.
GSAHS general manager eastern sector, Ken Barnett, provided an update on hospital services and the employment of an ophthalmologist.
Other positives included increasing surgery lists, reintroducing overnight paediatric stays and increased outreach clinics for midwifery at Pambula and Eden, reducing the amount of travel time for expecting mums.
Mr Barnett said the GSAHS had made positive changes and it would continue to work with the councillors and SPHAG to ensure similar outcomes in the future.
“I thought Monday’s meeting with the councillors and the action group was very constructive,” he said.
“We provided an update on what issues we are working on that have been raised over the past six months.
“We’re looking at local surgeons working with other Bega Valley surgeons to increase the usage of Pambula’s operating theatre.
“We have renovated the paediatric area and final building works will be completed this week. They included fitting out bathrooms and toilets to make them more appropriate for kids, an isolation room and an existing ward upgrade,” Mr Barnett said.
It has been no secret that the action group’s main focus has been the return of maternity services.
The group has rallied hard to save Pambula hospital and although resilience and determination has brought about positive change, discussions on the return of maternity services remain grid-locked.
GSAHS maintained its stance of leaving birthing services at Bega Hospital, but Mr Barnett said they would be improved.
“The health service confirmed at the meeting that birthing services would remain at Bega,” he said.
“We will obviously continue to improve maternity services by recruiting direct to the unit and cut back the use of locums. We are already in the recruitment process.
“We are happy to have further discussions with the councillors and the action group.”
Mayor Tony Allen and councillors Paul Pincini, Pat Campbell, Adrian Sandrey and Michael Britten were in attendance, as was Merimbula doctor Frank Simonson.
Cr Pincini, who organised the meeting, said although some issues still needed to be resolved, it had proved productive.
“It was great to meet with Ken and David from the GSAHS and see a few things are coming through to fruition, but there are still a few sticking points the community would like to see resolved,” he said.
“The return of maternity services is the major one. We also discussed the future of the Pambula Hospital after the construction of the new one (in Bega) and there was some good dialogue opened up with the action group.
“We would like to see all services returned to Pambula Hospital and after the new one is built, keep Pambula’s options open.
“Overall the meeting had a great outcome and GSAHS has agreed to start meeting with council regarding hospital issues and councillors have agreed to keep dialogue open with the action group.
“The meeting was also a good opportunity for other councillors to see how the community feels about the return of services at Pambula hospital.”
Save Pambula Hospital advocate Sharon Tapscott said the action group was happy with the meeting, but it would wait with bated breath for the improvements to be implemented.
“You don’t get everything all at once, but we did make significant inroads to problems.
“The biggest thing was the acknowledgement by the GSAHS that there are problems and they have given an undertaken to resolve those problems without any detrimental effects on Pambula Hospital.
“The changes made and being made are good for the hospital. Increased theatre operations; hiring of a fulltime physiotherapist; fix the broken mouth and jaw x-ray machine and utilise the ultra-sound more are all positives.”
Mrs Tapscott said the GSAHS was also making changes to better look after staff.
“They have committed to extend the nurses’ roster to relieve the pressure in existing rosters when the paediatric department opens,” she said.
“The fear nurses have of being overwhelmed will be alleviated.
“Whilst all these improvements sound extremely positive and they were said in front of the mayor and other councillors, we have heard some of them before.
“We will wait and see what happens and what does happen will be under intense scrutiny.”
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