A paediatric ward, more inpatient capacity and new palliative care facilities could be part of the final stage of the Dubbo Base Hospital redevelopment with funds for the master planning of the project now secured.
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Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders was joined by former members of the Local Health Council outside Dubbo Hospital on Wednesday morning to announce $600,000 in state government funding for a masterplan for the final stage of the hospital redevelopment.
"We've done a lot of work in this space and now we need to make sure that the final piece of the puzzle is absolutely what it needs to be - planned well, funded well and recognised by clinicians, doctors and nurses and people within the health community," Mr Saunders told the media.
"That final stage may include things like different in-patient services, different allied health potential, and paediatric and palliative care opportunities.
"All of that will be informed by the masterplan which will be informed by the clinical services plan which is being worked on by the local health district."
Mr Saunders said plans for the final stage could also include upgrades to dated facilities at Wellington hospital and progress on the development of a new one-stop-shop health facility in Narromine.
"Dubbo is obviously the main part of the hub, but Narromine and Wellington have a really crucial role to play particularly as we plan for the future. That could include more infrastructure or different services - all of that will be informed by the master plan," he said.
Former chairman of the health council Elizabeth Allen said the upgrades were "long overdue" and she hopes stakeholders within the community will be invited to help out with the formulation of the masterplan.
"As community representatives we would like to think that our input will be acknowledged as well," she said.
"I'd like to see the completion of the hospital. The completed redevelopment, unfortunately tearing down buildings where it's needed, a new children's ward and a new general ward. We also need a new kitchen revamping of the whole site."
Nola Honeysett - who also served on the Dubbo Health Council before it disbanded - agreed.
"It's been a long road ... we're blown away with what has already been delivered but it's not finished yet, this final stage is paramount to that," she said.
"We've desperately needed a new medical ward, allied health areas and a kitchen so that we have that total rebuild happening.
"It's not just about Dubbo, it's about this huge region that we service."
The announcement of funding for the masterplan comes as Dubbo Base Hospital continues to struggle to meet emergency room wait time benchmarks and health facilities across the region struggle to attract and retain staff.
Rhonda Gleeson, a consumer representative on a cancer centre consultative committee, said she hopes by completing the facilities upgrades the hospital could attract more specialists to the region to fill that staff shortage.
"We're not going to get good doctors, good nurses and good allied health staff unless we have good facilities. And we need to have those good facilities in order to get those good staff," she said.
"I'm not saying we haven't got good staff now, we have. But we need a whole lot more and we're always recruiting."
Previous stages of the hospital redevelopment have included the addition of a new multi-storey car park for staff and visitors, the opening of the Western Cancer Centre, a new dialysis unit, a new emergency department and a new clinical building.
Although no new facilities have been confirmed for the final stage and no funds have yet been allocated to the project, former health council member Geoff Wise said the fact a master plan is being worked on is "incredibly reassuring".
"It's a pity that up until now we haven't had that plan to finalise the outstanding pieces. So having the masterplan now on the table is an incredibly reassuring commitment we've all been looking forward to," he said.
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