15th October, 2024.
My question is directed to the Minister for Health. The Minister met with representatives of my community at Bowral and District Hospital about their disappointment at the planned upgrade. He said that we could work towards a clinical services plan. Why is my community being offered a business-as-usual plan and not a new clinical services plan?
Mr RYAN PARK (Keira—Minister for Health, Minister for Regional Health, and Minister for the Illawarra and the South Coast): Members opposite should not say "Ah!" That is stupid. Let me walk members through it. I cannot draw it, so The Nationals will find this a bit hard, but I will do my best.
The SPEAKER: I ask the Minister to go directly to his answer.
Mr RYAN PARK: I thank the member for Wollondilly for her question. All members in this place would agree she is a fantastic advocate for her community.
The SPEAKER: The member for Coffs Harbour will come to order.
Mr RYAN PARK: Her community is undergoing extreme challenges in relation to growth, and she has a range of different centres. I know the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces is dealing with a range of issues in and around her area. The member for Wollondilly is a fierce advocate. I also acknowledge members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association who are in the gallery today. We look at clinical services plans to make sure we are catering for the current and future needs of a particular area. The current clinical services plan for the area in and around the Bowral region was updated in 2021 and goes out to 2031. I will make contact with the fantastic chief executive of South Western Sydney Local Health District, Sonia Marshall, to line up a time when the member and community representatives can be updated on that plan in more detail. That is certainly something I expect from local chief executives. It is certainly what the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, the member for Heathcote, the member for Shellharbour and I get in our local health district in terms of access and updates. That is important.
That hospital is a very challenging piece of infrastructure. There is a $55-odd million stage two development that is currently underway. That will wrap up towards the back end of 2025, from memory. It is a challenge because that hospital is around 100 years old. I think all of us can imagine the types of challenges and what we are doing there. There will be a considerable investment, and there is a considerable investment that has continued from the former Government into our Government into that space. That is going to continue. One of the challenges we have identified in the clinical services plan is making sure that the plan reflects the need for more virtual care to take place in and around that area. The local member and residents from that area, who I met with and have had a number of discussions with, have talked to me about some of the challenges of having to go from places like Bowral into the larger centres in places like Campbelltown. [Extension of time]
Ironically, in some degree, this is a bit of an anomaly in relation to that local health district. Bowral forms part of the South Western Sydney Local Health District. That is a challenge sometimes simply because we operate a network system of hospitals. That means that within our own hospital network down in the Illawarra, people get moved around various different hospitals depending on their clinical need. That happens in south-western Sydney as well. The challenge for the member's constituents, though, is a real one in relation to that being a significant travel distance. The member for Campbelltown and the members from south-western Sydney will know all too well that Campbelltown is one of the busiest hospitals in Australia at the moment. We need to do more in relation to Bowral. I am happy to engage directly with the member and the chief executive of the local health district. I want to make sure that the community understands that I can see how there are some challenges in that part of the world in relation to accessing health care. I can understand that; it is real. We will work through that.
We are working through the $55 million redevelopment. I know that a range of different community consultation has taken place in relation to that in a range of different forums, whether it is online or walk and talks. I do not say for one moment that we get that engagement at all times perfect by no means. If we need to do more, if we need to have a refocus on the clinical services plan, if we think it needs to be updated, then we can certainly have a look at that. In the short term, I want to prioritise, as I would for any local member, making sure that the member for Wollondilly gets direct contact with her local health district chief executive. They are responsible for the delivery of some of the services, and I will make sure that is put in place for the member for Wollondilly.