$8 Million for Health in Nelson Bay

BY MATT JOHNSTON

The state government has announced $100 million in funding to create new HealthOne facilities across the state, and refurbish existing facilities. Eight brand new HealthOne facilities were announced, including one in Nelson Bay.

Credit: Port Stephens Examiner

Eight million dollars is going towards building the facility at the site of Tomaree Community Hospital, says Duty MLC for Port Stephens Catherine Cusack. This will be Port Stephens' second facility after Raymond Terrace, and the fifth full service for the Hunter New England health area.

Ms Cusack says Nelson Bay was chosen because of the expanding population and its growing need for a diverse range of health services. "It was ideally located in terms of additional demand for service and we're very pleased as we constantly seek to expand the amount of health services available that Tomaree Community Hospital was one of those selected".

Funding for the project has already been approved, and preliminary work is underway to determine the exact structure of the new facility. Ms Cusack says quite a bit of design work and consultation is still required. As of yet, there is no timeline in place for the construction of the new services.

"This will bring together general practitioners with community health and other health professionals across multidisciplinary teams. So it's got a lot of homework that has to be done until the actual, physical construction begins. But certainly, that work is already underway."

"It's fantastic to upgrade health services again on the peninsula, having just announced the new X-ray facilities". Ms Cusack says the funding for the project will come in addition to the funding already allocated for the new X-ray machines.

X-Ray Services Announced for Tomaree Community Hospital

BY SARAH BARONOWSKI

X-ray services are finally coming to Tomaree Community Hospital after years of community campaigning.

Local politicians gathered to make the announcement this morning, thanking the community for their dedication to the issue.

Liberal Duty MLC for Port Stephens, Catherine Cusack says the new services should be up and running by next year.

"It will take around 8 weeks for that physical work to take place and then a power upgrade will be required in order to operate the machinery in there so fingers crossed, everything going according to schedule, the new x-ray services will be delivered from February of next year."

This will be a big relief for locals who currently have to travel hours to the John Hunter Hospital just to get a simple x-ray. 

From left: Port Stephens Councillor Jaimie Abbott, Glen Dunkley,
John Nell and the Honourary Catherine Cusack

"Around 700 people hopefully won't have to make that 2-hour return trip to John Hunter anymore. Their x rays will be able to be taken here locally, the images can be assessed locally and if it's beyond the expertise of those doctors, they will be able to be transmitted instantly to other doctors," said Catherine Cusack. 

Among those in attendance at the announcement were Port Stephens councillors Jaimie Abbott, Glen Dunkley and John Nell, as well as Port Stephens MP Kate Washington.

She says it's great to see these services coming to Tomaree and it's something which will benefit countless residents and visitors in the area.  

"This is going to be a service that people from Medowie and further down towards Newcastle are going to be accessing alongside so many visitors that come to our peninsula. It's not only just a cost saving, this is about ensuring people get timely advice about their medical needs when they need it, where they need it." 

Councillor, John Nell says he personally wants to see x-ray services up and running as soon as possible, given the number of injuries which tend to occur over the summer time. 

"The service is really needed because there are lots of people particularly playing sport and in sport, you get all sorts of silly accidents and having an immediate x-ray is very beneficial. Over the summer time and Easter... young kinds being young kids, they run around and then all of a sudden, things happen so it's great to have this service," he said. 

 

Tomaree Community Hospital promised X-Ray Machine

BY BRIDGET GUNN

Labor Candidate for Paterson Meryl Swanson and State Member for Port Stephens Kate Washington have promised that Tomaree Community Hospital will receive $1 million for an X-Ray machine under a Shorten Labor Government.

This new X-Ray machine is expected to relieve stress on a range of emergency services including patient transport, ambulances and the John Hunter Hospital.

Meryl Swanson says the machine will be a vital addition to the Tomaree Peninsula, as the lack of access to basic health services is becoming increasingly dire.

"To think that an area like that, that has an ageing and growing population, we've got young people playing sport and they don't even have the capacity to get an X-Ray in their emergency department," says Ms Swanson.

"It's not good enough."

X-Ray Machine
Source: Middletown Medical Imaging