Highlands residents will demand answers about the Bowral Hospital redevelopment at an upcoming Question and Answer session.
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South Western Sydney Local Health District and Health Infrastructure have announced a public meeting which will be held on April 3.
Public Health First members will attend the meeting and press Local Health District and Health Infrastructure representatives for details of what has been planned, the Clinical Services Plan, the master plan for the redeveloped hospital and the status of the privatisation.
Members of the group will also ask for details on how the new operating theatres will be paid for, where they will be built, and how public patients will be guaranteed free access to them whether they are under public or Ramsay Health Care’s control.
Public Health First chair Edna Carmichael said health officials still did not understand the concept of “meaningful community consultation”.
“They seem to consider that telling us ‘what is happening’ constitutes consultation and community engagement. They are wrong,” she said.
“The Southern Highlands community is not without its own resources and knowledge to engage in meaningful ways with NSW Health, Health Infrastructure and the LHD professionals to advise on contemporary and projected community needs, and to review planning proposals in a constructive non-combative manner.”
Ms Carmichael said Public Health First urged every member of the Southern Highlands community to attend and ask questions.
She said an open display of the signed-off Clinical Services Plan and the endorsed Hospital Master Plan, both of which have been publicly announced, would not compromise the commercial negotiations between NSW Health and Ramsay Health Care, but would go far to satisfy the community’s demand for information.
The group has prepared questions ahead of the meeting. Ms Carmichael said the group hoped this meeting would be a “truly interactive Q&A” and be “more than the ‘drop-in sessions’ held so far”.
The community question and answer session will be held at Bowral Memorial Hall from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. There will be a presentation and people will then be able to ask questions. Email BowralHospitalRedevelopment@sswahs.nsw.gov.au for more information about the session.
