More than 18 months ago Highlanders learned of a $50 million upgrade for Bowral and District Hospital. It was an announcement made in the lead up to the 2015 NSW State Government election.

Since that time more than $6 million (as shown in the 2017 budget papers) has been spent. The community was told a Clinical Service Plan was in place, but that was not made available to the public until it was secured through a GIPA application.

Meanwhile, the government announced it was looking towards a Public Private Patrnership (PPP) with hospitals in several locations, including the Southern Highlands. The proposed partnerships in some areas have since been scrapped altogether, but that is not the case in the Highlands. 

While the community group Public Health First continues to push for answers about the future of the hospital, very little information has been forthcoming from the powers-that-be as to how the hospital will move into the 21^st century to support the ever-increasing Highlands population. There have been no clear answers about how the remainder of the $50 million will be spent and whether or not a PPP will go ahead. There have been no answers to the many questions raised about concerns regarding the CSP.

As if trying to calm the wolves at the door, the State Government announced in its 2017-18 budget that it would release $5 million of the hospital upgrade allocation. That is $5 million from an originally pledged $50 million and yet there is still no clear plan for the project. At what point are the Bowral Hospital staff and the community going to learn the true future of the facility? This is a facility established by the community in the late 1800s and continually supported, through its various expansions, by community fundraising activities by groups such as the hospital auxiliary.

It is time the politicians delivered clear, concise answers about the future of this invaluable resource. The health and well-being of the community is not something that should be used as a political enticement around election time, but sadly it looks as though that is what is happening. The last big beacon of hope came with the announcement of a $50 million upgrade in the lead up to the 2015 state election. Since then the community has received little information about the development direction and has been drip fed morsels of the allocated funds. This is not good enough.