Nursing home overlooked
SIR, – I want to fly the flag for the nursing home that is within the grounds of Wimmera Base Hospital in Horsham.
The building has been there for countless years, and mostly remains in its original state. It is home to many elderly and some younger residents.
Disappointingly, Wimmera Nursing Home has been ignored andor overlooked in discussions regarding a proposed hospital merger.
When it comes to health-care management of the nursing home it seems to be out of sight, out of mind.
Wimmera Nursing Home is old and antiquated in stark comparison to the main body of the hospital.
I appreciate much of the hospital is also in need of expansion and upgrading but over the years most of the buildings, if not all areas, have either been rebuilt or renovated, keeping it up to some reasonable standard. The nursing home is continually overlooked, only getting a lick of paint and minimal alterations.
Most resident rooms, furniture and en-suites remain as they were when they were built many years ago.
Working in a nursing home for all staff is already enormously challenging, both mentally and physically, let alone working in a facility that is outdated and where a lot of the equipment is limited.
Building a new nursing home has been overdue for years. We need a purpose-built facility accommodating our elderly, dementia patients, and for younger residents who might find themselves needing care.
Wimmera Health Care Group’s board has not put any proposal forward regarding the future direction of the nursing home. I think it sits buried in its too-hard basket. The plight, direction and the condition of the nursing home needs immediate focus and the community as a whole needs to be aware of what’s happening.
If the proposed amalgamation is successful, the board must acknowledge that Horsham and district has an ageing population. A new purpose-built aged-care facility must be part of this amalgamation. Despite what the hospital boards involved are suggesting, the absence of any real detail being released regarding the merger is of concern to most people on the streets.