Health bureaucracies that slashed rural nursing services for the sick and elderly have been put on notice by Member for MacKillop Nick McBride and Health Minister Chris Picton.
This follows a high-level meeting at parliament house last week where Mr McBride “made it very clear” health services would not decline under his watch.
Mr Picton also made it clear he did not change the nursing services. He has ordered working groups be put in place so affected communities can have a say about planning their nursing services.
Without consultation, on January 22 the green rubber rings of two Local Health Networks squeezed out rural nursing services at Lucindale, Tintinara and Coonalpyn.
People with cancer, MS, heart conditions and the elderly were told to drive round trips of 80kms or more for many nursing services.
Most have no ability to drive. There is no public transport.
Naracoorte Lucindale mayor Patrick Ross attended the high-powered meeting with Coorong mayor Paul Simmons, his CEO Bridget Mather as well as constituents Tintinara’s Brydee Martin and Avenue’s Ashley Reynolds.
Also at the meeting were some of those who slashed the nursing services – Limestone Coast Local Health Network (LCLHN) CEO Emma Poland and, by telephone, Riverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network, (LCLHN) CEO Wayne Champion, among others.
Immediately after the meeting, Mr McBride praised Mr Picton for listening and for his genuine concern regarding “very good” presentations by Mr Ross and Mr Simmons, as well as input from Mr Reynolds and Ms Martin.
Mr McBride said the changes were instigated by the two local health networks which claimed to have good justification for doing it.
“My point was that it doesn’t matter what hurdles the health networks were working through, the service currently on offer does not meet each of the town’s health needs,” he said.
“It was clearly highlighted by Mayor Ross that people will start self-medicating and not going to get the help that they could with a nurse there that they could ask for medical assistance or advice.
“When you can’t see a GP, at least you have community health, and now this is in jeopardy,” Mr McBride said.
“The minister was very supportive of the community’s concern and the fact the service has been changed without consultation.
“The meeting agreed that they’d love to see it returned to where it was.”
Mr Ross said Mr McBride “spoke incredibly passionately and strongly around the abandonment of health services within his electorate.”
“And, whatever the bureaucratic words might be around safety and other such things, it didn’t cut it.
“It was a very passionate plea from our member and I was incredibly impressed!”
Mr Ross said Mr Picton made it clear the decision for change did not come from Adelaide. And that health networks were set up to consult with their communities to arrive at the best health outcomes.
“The minister rounded up after 40 minutes saying (to local health networks) `these people have driven for many hours this morning to get here. There must be something that’s not working. We must discover what that is, and rectify it,” Mr Ross said.
“He then tasked them with ensuring the communities and the health networks got together and came to some sort of resolution.
“The minister is not on notice, but he knows. And he has certainly put people under his charge on notice.”
Mr Ross highlighted a question from Ashley Reynolds who queried if something was wrong with the previous system?
“There was an acknowledgement the previous system worked very well,” Mr Ross said.
Mr Reynolds said: “Nick McBride was awesome in that meeting, he really was.
“As a local politician Nick McBride certainly earned his money and certainly stood up for his constituents in a big way.”
Mr Picton said: “I want to thank the Member for Mackillop for helping to organise this meeting with the Mayors of the Coorong and Naracoorte Lucindale Council, as well as the CEOs of the Local Health Networks (LHNs) so we could discuss community concerns about the LHN changes.
“I have asked the LHNs to bring together consumer working groups for these services so the community can have a greater local say about planning for these services.
“I reiterate these were local decisions by the local health networks and local boards – there was no decision from Adelaide and the budgets for the LHNs have increased substantially over the past two years.”
According to the 2022-23 annual reports of both Limestone Coast and Riverland, Mallee Coorong local health networks, they each had budgets of $212 million.
Mr Picton previously said he increased the LCLHN’s budget by $31million.
Meanwhile, LCLHN community and allied health executive director Karen Harris wants to hear from anyone having difficulty with appointments.
“I encourage anyone who is having difficulty making an appointment to reach out to my office directly, so I can address these issues immediately,” she said.
Ms Harris claimed: “The LCLHN are committed to continuing consultation with the community regarding these changes and will be meeting with community stakeholders in the coming weeks.”
This article appeared in the Naracoorte Community News.
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