NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley visited the Bega Valley on Tuesday to discuss issues at the South East Regional Hospital.
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Mr Foley spent the morning with nurses and health workers, who he said described a hospital “seriously understaffed and under-resourced”.
He said a lack of proper staffing at the hospital had seen elective surgery and emergency department wait times increase.
“I’m concerned that despite a major review into the operations of this hospital, major and systemic problems remain,” Mr Foley said outside the grounds of the South East Regional Hospital on Tuesday.
“Why is it that a federal Labour government could put $160 million dollars up to fund a major modern new hospital? yet waits for emergency departments and elective surgeries are longer than they were before this hospital was opened.
“It’s an absolute failure by the state government not to ensure this hospital is staffed with sufficient resources.”
Mr Foley was joined by NSW Shadow Health Minister Walt Secord and Labor MLC Courtney Houssos.
Mr Secord said he had asked health minister Brad Hazzard about the current status of former SERH orthopaedic surgeon Chris Phoon and orthopaedic services at the hospital, during a health hearing in state parliament this week.
Mr Seckord said he is awaiting a response from the minister.
“We have a health and hospital system that lurches from crisis to crisis, and Bega hospital has the ludicrous situation of a brand new hospital with waiting lists longer for orthopaedic surgery in the new hospital than the old hospital,” he said.
“We know the hospital is under tremendous pressure.
“It’s going to get worse, we have the holiday season coming up and this hospital will be under even more pressure.”
Bega MP Andrew Constance hit back, saying Mr Foley “had nothing to do with the delivery” of the hospital, calling him a “fly-by-nighter”.
“Health Minister Brad Hazzard and I were there two weeks ago, and we are working around the clock to make sure our community, health workers and nurses get the level of service they deserve,” Mr Constance said.
“Over the last 15 years, I’m proud to have worked with local campaigners to deliver major highway upgrades, hospitals, an ambulance station, the port – I’ll stand my record against those political hacks any day of the week.”
