Brendan Catanzariti, Helen Dalton MP, Dr Narayanan Jayachandran, Robert Fattore and Bill Calabria are leading the push to split from MLHD. Photo: Supplied.
The owner of Calabria Wines has thrown his weight behind a push from local doctors and a state MP to break away from the Wagga health establishment.
Member for Murray Helen Dalton has introduced a bill in parliament to form a new ‘Western Riverina Health District’, which would relinquish Griffith Base Hospital from the control of Wagga-based bureaucracy, the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD), which currently makes decisions on staffing and services.
This bill was supported by an open letter from the Medical Staff Council – which represents doctors and specialists at the hospital.
Ms Dalton has now teamed up with veteran surgeon Dr Narayanan Jayachandran to organise a rally at Memorial Park on Saturday 20 September to present their case for more localised decision-making about staff and services.
Bill Calabria, a long-time face of the town, explained why he would attend.
“We’ve got the new hospital, which is fine, but now we need doctors and nurses to fill it. That’s not happening from what I see,” he said.
“At the end of the day, I believe that Wagga does not want to give specialists a chance to come to Griffith. They are always blocking them.
“There’s no MRI machine at our hospital. We still have go to Wagga for an MRI. If someone breaks a bone, we need to go Wagga. That’s pretty ordinary. What kind of a hospital have we got if you can’t even get the basics done? How much worse off can we be if we break away?
“Back in the 1980s, we had all the surgeons and services we needed. We have gone backwards.”
Mrs Dalton says the upcoming rally will be a chance to listen to community members’ concerns about the lack of services and to hear from hospital staff about the difficulty of working for a Wagga establishment. They will present the argument for splitting away.
“The staff object to being managed by Wagga bureaucrats. They believe the local community and staff need to have a say on the administration, recruitment and equipment that is needed in Griffith,” Mrs Dalton said.
She said her bill would also provide for more localised decision-making in western Riverina towns such as Deniliquin, Hay, Hillston and Barham.
Real estate agent Brendan Catanzariti has urged everyone to attend the upcoming rally.
“For the doctors at Griffith hospital to write a letter saying they want to break away from the MLHD is incredible. When have we ever seen that before?” he said.
“We’re like a broken record on this issue. We need people to support this cause and learn about the benefits of breaking away. Dr Jaya will be speaking at the rally and so will Helen Dalton. We’ve also invited the MLHD, the Health Minister and Shadow Minister.”
Helen Dalton wants a new ‘Western Riverina Local Health District’. Photo: Helen Dalton MP Facebook.
Mr Calabria says the rally is about more than just health.
“If the town doesn’t have a hospital it can rely on, you’re not going to encourage people to come and live here,” he said.
Region contacted MLHD to ask if its representatives would attend the rally. It did not answer this question but reiterated its opposition to Mrs Dalton’s bill in a statement.
“Splitting MLHD would have a detrimental impact on existing healthcare pathways and create unnecessary additional layers of administration,” a spokesperson said.
“Current arrangements allow staffing and community-based services to be networked and shared across the district. Removing those arrangements would require existing services to be replicated, adding significant costs, and would only add to current staffing shortages experienced in healthcare services nationwide.
“MLHD’s senior leadership team and several board members are based throughout the Murrumbidgee region, representing regional and rural patients and ensuring their unique healthcare needs are considered at an executive level.”
A parliamentary inquiry into Mrs Dalton’s bill is expected to begin later this year.
MLHD will prepare a submission for the inquiry which will include information about local health services.
The rally to split from MLHD will be held at noon on Saturday 20 September at Memorial Park, 363 Banna Avenue in Griffith.
