Better he show a mature and considered approach to his important role in this community and enter into productive discussions with hard working hospital management in good faith and with his main weapon – his obvious skill set!

Our community deserves better than this Chris.

I find the decision by the Bega hospital management to sack Chris Phoon to be totally ludicrous.

You may say I have a vested interest as Chris performed a total knee replacement last November and I haven’t looked back.

Chris is a brilliant surgeon and to see him treated in this manner is appalling.  What has he done apart from stick up for the rights of both patients and colleagues?

I think the community and the Health Minister need to question the motives behind this ridiculous decision.

Further to your excellent and well directed editorial, and as a very experienced health services manager of facilities ranging from 40 beds to over 600, I am absolutely appalled at yet another management “stuff up” in the operation of our beautiful new hospital at Bega.

Dr Chris Phoon is a highly regarded and skilled orthopaedic surgeon who deserves much better than this.

I believe the local area health board and the senior management team requires very serious review and perhaps, the new NSW Health Minister needs to step in, to prevent a complete breakdown in the operation of what should be a show piece in the delivery of health services to the community of the Bega Valley and even beyond.

As a health practitioner working in the community, I continue to be very distressed and concerned about ongoing complaints from patients about the dysfunction of this facility – the buck stops at the top!

Staff cannot work in what seems to be a toxic environment.

The doctors and specialists, who offer their services to work in this area deserve and should be accorded the utmost courtesy and respect – the reported treatment of Dr Chris Phoon does not indicate this is the case.

Time for our elected Members of Parliament and/or the NSW Health Minister to step in, before the facility comes to a grinding halt and all the extraordinary hard work put in by so many to develop such a world class facility is placed at risk.

The South East Regional Hospital reputation is already tarnished and the high standards of patient care are at risk.

According to NSW Health, its “core values” are “collaboration, openness, respect and empowerment”.

Based on the appalling treatment publicly meted-out on orthopedic surgeon Chris Phoon and his family by the faceless, unaccountable bureaucrats of NSW Health, it would seem that its values are nothing more than a sick joke.

While local member Andrew Constance wrings his hands and waffles-on about “independent reviews”, Dr Phoon and his family, hundreds of patients, as well as the entire Bega Valley community are left hanging without adequate healthcare.

It would seem that NSW Health has adopted the values of the current NSW government – arrogance, intimidation, secrecy and non-accountability.

It is time that the people of the Bega Valley stood up and demanded better.