Member’s silence
What is Mr Constance doing to resolve the issues at our hospital? Anything?
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Surely the person who claims to be totally responsible for its establishment would have a sense of guardianship over it. Or, at the very least, he must be concerned about the welfare of his community. Has anyone heard anything from him? Anyone?
Elizabeth Blackmore, Kalaru
Cut the chat
The current staffing situation at Bega’s regional hospital is obvious – thankfully highlighted by orthopaedic surgeons Matthew Nott and Chris Phoon.
Cut the chat, the administrative model in place is antiquated, convoluted and out of touch with reality. Until the model is changed there will be no change for any rural regional hospital.
Go for it Matthew and Chris.
Prue Kelly, Tathra
Core values
On Thursday, close to 500 people attended a public meeting convened by Matthew Nott to give us some background about the non-renewal of Dr Chris Phoon's contract to work as an orthopaedic surgeon at SERH.
It seems Dr Phoon is being punished for delivering very high quality surgery and care to his patients, along with very high quality teaching and mentoring to surgeons in training. Matthew also explained that the cost in dollars to replace Dr Phoon with locums is much higher than re-contracting Dr Phoon. More importantly though is the continuity of care patients receive if Dr Phoon can be re-contracted.
There are many other aspects to this situation too, which include the anxiety patients have around surgery, the anxiety the Phoon family has around the uncertainty of Chris's tenure, and the pressure this is putting on Drs Nott and Rajesh.
We need our government and hospital administration to reconsider their decision and place high quality patient care at the top of their list of core values.
Carla Gray and Stig Virtanen, Tathra
Boil lanced
After attending Thursday's meeting and in general conversation with friends and acquaintances around the community, I have come to the view that due to the exceptional and highly skilled surgical skills of Drs Chris Phoon and Matthew Nott, a deeply ingrained and infectious boil – that of the culture involved in the administration of our new South East Regional Hospital – has been lanced.
It is now to be seen what outcome comes of this seemingly routine procedure. How deep has this infection progressed? Certainly a band-aid will not be sufficient.
As was stated by several of the speakers at this inspirational meeting, when surgical staff members,nurses and administrators feel so undervalued by those who possess power by controlling the purse strings from afar, there is no incentive to completely clean and heal this ugly wound.
I find it incredible (although not a qualified economist by any means) that a locum can be employed at a cost of approximately $2500 a day. Presuming this is to replace Dr Phoon on a continual basis I don't see the economy of this decision.
On the other hand, even considering that a surgeon of Dr Phoon's standard and dedication would be paid appropriately for his years of training and ability, bringing his family to live in an area distantly removed from his home town of Sydney ensures that his income is generating growth in our local economy.
How can we afford not to have such a dedicated and locally entrenched surgeon as Dr Phoon and why should he be punished for stating the “bleeding” obvious.
Hopefully the relevant authorities can see that this boil must be cleaned completely, thoroughly and deeply now that it has been opened. Our community must not stand for a superficial rinse with saline.