Cootamundra Hospital will soon be without a pathology lab, with NSW Health Pathology directing supply to its Young office. Photo: Mattinbgn.
The Health Services Union has put the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) under the microscope, accusing the governing body of seeking budget cuts over providing necessary patient care.
The announcement of NSW Health Pathology closing down its Cootamundra lab has been met with heavy criticism, with workers of the Young pathology lab proposing a strike against the decision.
HSU official Sam Oram told Region that due to decisions made, such as the one made by NSW Health Pathology, regional healthcare had been left in crisis and services like the Cootamundra pathology lab were victims of organisations seeking savings over patient care.
“It’s just getting worse and worse by these sorts of decisions being made,” he said.
“They’re not being made to improve health; they’re only being made to realise savings and that’s coming at a cost to the public.
“We believe that the MLHD is supportive of this because they will get to realise those savings. We (HSU) would have hoped that the MLHD would come out in support of not shutting this service down, but quite the opposite. They have been very quiet, and we suspect that it has been very supportive of NSW Health’s decision to close several services in Cootamundra in the background.
When asked by Region about its plans for Cootamundra and the transition of pathology labs, MLHD said it was working closely with NSW Health Pathology.
“MLHD and NSW Health Pathology are working together to ensure there is no impact on services at Cootamundra Health Service while the pathology laboratory is transitioned to a new, expanded laboratory at Young over the coming months,” a spokesperson said.
“MLHD is committed to providing high-quality, timely and appropriate care to the people of Cootamundra.
“MLHD has no plans to cut maternity, theatre or any other services at Cootamundra Health Service.”
Mr Oram said he was confused by and disappointed with MLHD’s response to NSW Health Pathology’s decision to cut the Cootamundra lab and there had been no attempt to reach out to HSU.
“They [MLHD] have a significant voice in the matter. The people in Young obviously aren’t in support of the Cootamundra pathology closure and neither are the people of Cootamundra. If they were serious about wanting to care for the people of their district, they would speak out against the planned closures, but we have heard nothing.
“It will put further stress on pathology workers in Young and Wagga Wagga and will strip the people of Cootamundra of services they clearly need.
“All these health systems are under tremendous pressure and by making a decision like this, it is just going to make that pressure worse for workers who are already inundated with requests.
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