Wodonga resident Vicki Lancaster has been on the waiting list for a knee replacement for six months and she is not expecting that to change for at least two and a half years.
“If I live in Melbourne it’s around 12 months, if you live in Wangaratta it’s around 12 months,” she said.
“If I live in Wagga, twelve months.
“It’s three to four years here … and at a substandard hospital.”
Ms Lancaster is also angry that the new brownfield master plan for Albury hospital would take away the hydrotherapy pool.
She said she attended a health summit in Wodonga today to represent those who could not make it.
“This is about people that can’t move,” Ms Lancaster said.
“I can get myself on a waiting list somewhere else,” she said.
“Other people can’t and they deserve better.”
‘Ridiculous situation’
On Friday, frustration at broken promises, politics and bureaucracy boiled over at a regional health summit on the Victoria-New South Wales border.
Politicians, doctors, local government officials and health leaders met in Wodonga to discuss the future of the region’s healthcare.
The forum was organised by Wodonga Council as part of its continued advocacy for a greenfield hospital.
A number of leaders and experts spoke about the best cross-border health solution for the catchment, which services more than 300,000 people.
The brownfield redevelopment of Albury Hospital was announced in 2022 with a projected cost of $558 million, which would be shared by Victoria and NSW.
The master plan was released by NSW Health Infrastructure the day prior to the summit.
NSW Greens MP Amanda Cohn said the plan was grossly inadequate.
“We’re ending up with this ridiculous situation where we’ve got the same number of ICU beds we’ve got now … where we’re currently have space for a second [catheterisation] lab, but the new hospital’s not going to have space for a second cath lab,” she said.
“The government and the department gaslight the community by saying, ‘That’s what you’ve sort of deserved all along.’
“We really now need to revisit the alternative, which was a greenfield site, which was what was recommended by the 2021 master plan.”
‘Will not deliver’
Nine recommendations emerged from the summit, including the establishment of a better regional governance model to unify Albury Wodonga Health Service.
On the eve of the summit a letter from Albury Wodonga Health board chair Jonathan Green and chief executive Bill Appleby was released.
It was sent to the health ministers of NSW and Victoria before Christmas and made public by Dr Cohn .
In it, the pair wrote that it was “grossly disappointing” that Albury-Wodonga’s population would still have a split hospital system.
They also raised concern the redevelopment would not do enough to reduce duplication of services or sustain the growing community in the future.
“We are unclear about when the Wodonga emergency department can be closed, as the new Albury emergency department capacity will only meet current demand when opened,” they wrote.
“We … have already had to sensitively concede … this investment will not deliver the government’s policy intent of a single-site hospital.”
‘It was disappointing’
Support for the 2021 master plan was echoed by Wodonga Mayor Ron Mildren, who said any progress towards a substandard brownfield development at Albury “must be turned back”.
“The funding that’s been made available doesn’t deliver anything, and can’t even deliver the cutback service that’s been suggested,” he said.
A number of panel members also raised concerns that no Victorian state government representative attended the summit.
“It was disappointing — I think that was the missing link here,” federal Member for Indi Helen Haines said.
“We have got a lot more to do to continue to prosecute this case for better funding on the border.”
A spokesperson for NSW said in a statement that planning for the Albury Wodonga Regional Hospital project was progressing.
“The final project and clinical scope, including bed numbers, will be determined through the planning and design process as it progresses,” they said.
A Victorian government spokesperson said the Wodonga council did not choose a suitable date for the summit.
“If the Wodonga Council was interested in having a serious discussion about healthcare in the region, they would have worked on a date that was also suitable to representatives of the Victorian government,” the spokesperson said.
“As part of our extensive consultation process the entire local community is being consulted and the Wodonga council has had and continues to have ample opportunity to engage in that process.
“While the NSW Greens political party is playing politics, we are getting on and delivering one of Australia’s most significant investments ever in regional health infrastructure, in partnership with NSW and the community.”