Michelle Daw, Yorke Peninsula Country Times

Community members are being urged to volunteer for five vacant roles on the Yorke Peninsula Health Advisory Council.

Member for Narungga Fraser Ellis, who is the local MP representative on YPHAC, and retiring YPHAC member Rod Thomas have both encouraged local people to consider joining the group.

“The HACs can play a pivotal role in connecting our community with the health bureaucracy,” Mr Ellis said.

“They are a great forum to ask and receive questions on behalf of the community directly with those who make decisions and allocate the budget.

“More importantly, they are the best place to lobby for improvement or change that the community wants.

“If you are passionate about improving our local health services and want to be directly involved in bringing them into line with community expectations, then I would absolutely encourage people to register their interest for the upcoming AGM in November.”

After Mr Thomas’ retirement takes effect, YPHAC will have only three of a possible eight community members.

It has a representative of Yorke Peninsula Council and local Health SA employees but is lacking a medical representative.

Mr Thomas is a former YPHAC chairperson and has served on the council since it was established in 2008, after the state government removed the governance of local hospitals from local boards.

He also served on the board of Maitland Hospital, then known as Central Yorke Peninsula Hospital, since 2001.

Mr Thomas said he had drawn on his experience working in finance and administration roles with Northern Territory Health but he urged people from all walks of life to consider nominating to join YPHAC.

“If you’re interested in your community and wanting to do something, you’re a representative of that community,” he said.

“Anyone can contribute because they have got their own skill set, be it a farmer or a businessperson or whatever, because they have their own opinions, shared with others enabling everyone to move forward.”

Mr Thomas said in common with other country areas, health services and GP practices in the YPHAC area were struggling to attract and retain GPs and to provide adequate mental health services.

He said satisfying projects he had been involved with through YPHAC included using funds bequeathed by a former patient of the Chappell Wing at the Maitland Hospital to provide fixtures and fittings for an upgrade of the wing and the creation of an adjoining garden.

YPHAC also supported the establishment of a dialysis facility and a campaign to raise money for the development of a palliative care room at the Maitland Hospital.

YPHAC is vested with property ownership of the Maitland and Yorketown Hospitals and the Melaleuca Court Nursing Home in Minlaton, and manages funds donated or raised by the community for these facilities.

It is also tasked with representing community needs to Country Health SA and the Minister for Health.

YPHAC members meet monthly in Maitland, Minlaton or Yorketown and are briefed by the executive officers/directors of nursing for Maitland and Yorketown Hospitals and by representatives of Yorke and Northern Local Health Network.

For more information, email HealthYorkePeninsulaHAC@sa.gov.au.

This article appeared in Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 22 August 2023.