WATCH: NSW Health Minister Ryan Park is grilled by Greens MP Dr Amanda Cohn

Transcript

00:00Coming back to Albury Hospital, so you've repeated the same line about making the most

00:05of the facilities already on the site for over a year now, so are you aware that the

00:09coronary cath lab, it's only built in 2018, there's currently one lab and a shell for

00:14a second one, there's a capacity for expansion there, in the new project as you're proposing,

00:19that's actually demolished and we'll just have one with no capacity for expansion.

00:22Are you aware that you're actually taking us backwards?

00:25I'll need to get some advice, either from health infrastructure or...

00:30I'll speak to health infrastructure this afternoon.

00:32You also, when I asked about point of care projections being revised down, you talked

00:36about virtual care and hospital in the home, which as a GP I really support those things,

00:40but here's one example of how that argument doesn't stack up, talking about acute care

00:45beds, intensive care beds, so we currently have 12 across Albury and Wodonga, the 2021

00:51clinical services plan recommended that we'd need 20 by 2030 and 22 to 24 by 2035, that

00:58was then revised in 2022, when you cut the staff out of the consultation, the recommendation

01:04was then for either 14 or 16 beds, depending on whether you're projecting to 2032 or 2037.

01:09The proposal is for 12, so how can you use a virtual care or hospital in the home to

01:15replace the need for intensive care beds?

01:17Please explain that to me.

01:19Well, I'll explain a little bit about clinical services plans.

01:24They don't always project what the hospital needs right now.

01:29Clinicians have a view, and that's fine.

01:32Clinician feedback is important.

01:34That's not the only feedback, because you would understand that we're operating, as

01:40every minister does, under budgets and within budgets, so that is a part of the assessment,

01:47but to say that we are going to give, and I think this is broadly, somewhat of a second

01:54rate service to the people of Albury and Wodonga is not true.

01:59We've planned 380 beds across both those hospitals.

02:04That means around about 135 extra beds, and you raised earlier about the surgical and

02:12inpatient beds, well, more than 80 additional surgical and inpatient beds will be delivered,

02:18so we're arguing, I know, and I've been respectful, but we are going to deliver a great service.

02:31It may not be the exact service that you or certain individual clinicians perhaps envisaged,

02:37but I'm confident it's a service that the community can be proud of, and I'm confident

02:43that we'll continue to work with the Victorian government to make those investments there.

02:48I'll continue with the department this afternoon.

02:51Are there any questions from the government?

02:53There are no questions for the government.

02:55That being the case, Minister, we're finished with your questioning.