By Alex Rea

At a meeting held in Batemans Bay on Monday night, the ‘Don’t Close the Batemans Bay Emergency Department” group invited State Member for Bega Michael Holland to attend, under the impression he would be presented with the Petition against the closure, of around 18,000 signatures.

Federal Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips was also invited. Around 150 people attended the meeting.

The closure of the Batemans Bay ED is part of the 2020 Clinical Services Plan for the building of the new Eurobodalla Hospital at Moruya, developed under the former Coalition Government.

In a well-orchestrated stunt in front of a rowdy crowd, Dr Holland was passed over, as the Petition was handed over to NSW Liberal Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman, who subsequently committed to keeping the Bay ED open if elected to government.

Dr Holland and Mrs Phillips then withdrew from the meeting to shouts of abuse.

Mrs Phillips told the Moruya Mail it was a shameful scene. “There was an absolute failure of the organiser to moderate the meeting and the misogynistic comments from the floor were unacceptable.”

How the meeting played out:

Meeting organiser and petition lead Peter Ryan spoke first, followed by Fiona Phillips and Michael Holland. Mr Ryan was supported by former Member for Bega Andrew Constance and aspiring Federal Member for Gilmore.

The Don’t Close the Batemans Bay ED group reasons for objecting to the closure are a lack of consultation in the decision making, the larger population of Batemans Bay, and emergency transport times to Moruya, especially without the Moruya Bypass being built.

The meeting was unruly with constant interjections and heckling.

Addressing the meeting Mrs Phillips said “Let me be clear, when I came to this role, and even before that, and still to this day, I have had, and have, only one clear agenda for health in the Batemans Bay/Moruya region, and that is to improve access to health services for people.

I unequivocally, have backed and continue to back one Level 4 Hospital for the Eurobodalla, that will provide a higher level service and allow more local people to be treated close to home.

The federal electorate of Gilmore is a large region, from Minnamurra in the north to Tuross Head in the south, covering three local government area’s and three state electorates. But it is only the Eurobodalla that currently has no access to a higher Level 4 hospital.

As your Federal Member, I am continually devoted to improving health services in the Eurobodalla, always looking for ways to support our local GPs and primary health care.

I’m pleased that I’ve delivered on that commitment, and since the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic has opened, it has treated just over 3,500 bulk billed patients.

I have also been exploring, the possibility of extending the scope of the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic to a 24/7 Urgent Care Clinic.

Dr Holland said “I told you there that I am not your adversary but I am here as your representative and to tell you the truth. Not political spin.

As the elected representative of the Bega electorate including the whole of the Eurobodalla, I acknowledge your concerns about emergency services in Batemans Bay, and I will present your petition to the NSW Parliament.

I will inform the Minister for Health and he will provide a response and I will debate the petition in parliament.

I will tell you though that the clinical services plan which has been in planning for over 6 years is safe and will give you an improved level of services which you have never had before.

It will be safe. It will be equitable. It will be efficient. And it will provide higher quality health care to everyone in the Eurobodalla.

Keeping Batemans Bay or Moruya hospital open will maintain the status quo of a divided level 2 and level 3 service. It will not improve the health system in the Eurobodalla and you will not attain a level 4 service and a level 4 service will save lives.

It will provide a higher level and wider range of specialist services and will keep our residents closer to home for many previously unavailable services, already 46% of our population does not receive its treatment locally.

There is no point in closing a level 2 hospital and a level 3 hospital and opening another level 3 hospital. This is what will happen by keeping Batemans Bay emergency department and Moruya emergency department open.

Our community needs a health system that provides definitive care at one site. The Eurobodalla health system has always been divided.

That is one reason why the South East Regional hospital was built before a single Eurobodalla Regional Hospital despite the obvious higher need in the Eurobodalla, compared to the Bega Valley and Goulburn Base Hospital, both of which have level 4 services.

Major general surgery had to move because the Batemans Bay theatres were not fit for current purpose. It became a higher-level service.

We are already developing the close observation unit which is the precursor for intensive care. Neither Batemans Bay nor Moruya hospitals are fit for current and future purpose.

The One New Eurobodalla Hospital campaign started six years ago and that word ONE changed the community. For a while people were united. They accepted that the issue was about the services, not the site.

The previous government’s clinical services plan did not consider any future services in Batemans Bay.

I assure you that the Batemans Bay emergency department will remain open until the new level 4 emergency department is functioning. But patients with emergency and life-threatening conditions need to go to a level 4 hospital. They need definitive care at one site, not time wasting and life-threatening transfers.

I repeat, lives will be saved by achieving a single level 4 Eurobodalla Regional Hospital. Clinical specialists inform us that patient outcomes are improved by bypassing level 2 services to go directly to level 4 services

Take for example major trauma as referenced in the road side signs around here.

What will happen if you go to a level 2 ED such as Batemans Bay?  There is no CT scanning. There is no operating theatre for major surgery. There is no onsite pathology. There are only 2 units of o negative uncrossmatched blood. There are no surgeons, anaesthetists, specialist emergency doctors. There is no intensive care. In other words, you will not receive definitive care.

You would either be retrieved by helicopter or ambulance requiring yet another transfer.

A single level 4 Eurobodalla hospital will be recognised as a trauma staging hospital just like South East Regional Hospital, Bega and Shoalhaven district hospital, Nowra.

There is clear evidence that time sensitive conditions such as stroke and sepsis are best managed by direct presentation to a level 4 emergency department. Where you will have on-site specialists, CT scanning and MRI, blood bank and pathology, operating theatres, and intensive care.

People underestimate the current capacity of our professional paramedic services. They are highly trained health professionals. They keep people alive from their home or accident until they receive hospital treatment.

Calling 000 should be the only increase in the number of ambulance responses as our paramedics are already having to do two trips or more by going to a level 2 hospital and then to a level 3 hospital.

This clinical services plan was not designed by amateurs. It was not designed by parochial bureaucrats or pork barrelling politicians.

It was designed by objective experts. Local experts who saw the existing problems and outside observers who gave their independent professional opinion.

People don’t like to be told that things need to change. They see that as a loss. Health professionals see it as a criticism. But a change for the better is not a loss. And things should not be changed for the sake of change but only for improvement.

A single level 4 hospital will save lives. And I will continue to advocate for your concerns regarding local emergency services to the minister for health through this petition” concluded Dr Holland.

Throughout the speeches there the crowd was jeering and hostile.

Southern Area Health CEO Margaret Bennet was also present but declined to speak.

After being presented with the petition, Mr Speakman committed to keeping the Batemans Bay Emergency Department open if elected to Government.

“Batemans Bay will still need a local emergency department even when a new Level 4 Eurobodalla Hospital opens.

If the ED were to close, Batemans Bay would be the largest regional centre in NSW without an ED – and far worse when the population swells dramatically during holiday periods. The distance from Moruya is exacerbated by occasional flooding, frequent severe weekend and holiday congestion entering Moruya and the Minns Labor Government’s failure to commit to a Moruya bypass, let alone to a construction timetable. An urgent care clinic, while welcome, is no substitute for an ED.”

“The petition of 18,000 signatures, which I’ll present to Parliament, shows how strongly the community feels,” said Mr Speakman.

On Tuesday night Mr Ryan clarified on social media that Dr Holland had not been invited to receive the petition, jut to attend. The local News Corp media had been well informed, writing on Monday morning behind the paywall that Mr Speakman would receive the petition, but interestingly ABC South East announced in its early bulletin on Tuesday that Dr Holland had received the petition.