Hospital closure blasted

THE decision to close Mungindi Hospital to people living in NSW has been labelled a “heartless and draconian” decision that will impact hundreds of residents and force them to travel more than 120km for essential healthcare.

Acting South West Hospital and Health Service CEO Craig Carey wrote to Mungindi residents saying that due to the rampant Covid situation in NSW, the hospital had to reconsider its role in protecting the community.

“Many of the staff at Mungindi Multipurpose Health Service live in NSW,” he said.

“Given the border directions which include increasingly strict control measures, it has become extremely challenging to maintain current health services in Mungindi.

“Unfortunately, there is a lack of available agency staff or staff members within the Hospital and Health Service that can be redeployed, and very limited options to accommodate any additional staff members.”

Member for Warrego Ann Leahy said the decision meant border communities were paying a high price for keeping the rest of the state safe.

“This was a harsh decision made without any consideration with the community leaders by the state Labor government,” Ms Leahy said.

“A partial community at risk is a whole community at risk. Vaccination is key to living with Covid.

“I call on the state Labor government to come clean and tell the community of Mungindi what criteria need to be satisfied to reinstate the NSW essential health workers to their workplace at the Mungindi Hospital in Queensland.”

New England MP David Marshall said he wrote to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to immediately intervene and reverse the “disgraceful” decision.

“This heartless and draconian decision was already impacting hundreds of locals, preventing them from accessing their local hospital and their only source of primary, allied and acute medical services for a distance of more than 120 kilometres,” he wrote on social media. “Locals now cannot even access the hospital for their Covid vaccination appointments.

“No one can explain to me, nor the local community, the rationale behind this unprecedented decision.

“It smacks of overreach, but dangerously, it is denying locals their basic right of access to medical services.

“It’s putting the community’s health and the lives of locals, at extreme risk.”

Mr Carey said SWHHS had worked hard to keep Covid from the communities, particularly as a remote service with a high proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

“Our communities are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 should cases arise,” he said.

He said to ensure staff and communities are kept safe, the SWHHS executive team were taking steps to ensure continuation of essential services.

Through Mungindi MultiPurpose Health Services (MPHS) the emergency department will be maintained 24/7 with continued medical coverage.