The RADIOTHERAPY PETITION has been faithfully handed to Hon Clerk of the House by our Local Member for Bega, Dr Michael Holland MP.
Of interest the petition clearly requests that the Honourable House urgently direct THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH.
For whatever reason it appears that this request has been ignored and passed to an alternate, the lesser status Minister for Regional Health, with the petition (shown above) noting it is now in the hands of "Minister Taylor".
The Minister for Regional Health now has 35 calendar days to respond... on time, and with substance it is hoped given her recent statement that “What I have to do is….look at the facts and look at the data, and what it’s telling us at the moment is that data isn’t there to support that Radiotherapy Unit. Now, is that going to change into the future? I would say perhaps…” (ABC-SE, ”Breakfast”, 05/10/22).
It is hoped that the Minister for Regional Health is actually able to lay on the table the data that she refers to that she claims "isn’t there to support that Radiotherapy Unit".
Above: Dr Michael Holland MP - Member for Bega posted today " It's officially in! This morning I tabled the Radiotherapy Petition for the Bega Electorate to the Parliament of NSW. A massive effort from the community with over 5000 signatures calling for local radiotherapy to be included in the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital. I look forward to receiving the response from the Minister for Health regarding this vital service our community are crying out for". The South East community, The Federal Government and the petitioners have clearly supported the demand with both funding and support. The Minister for Regional Health will need to explain why the NSW Government refuses to commit to a project that already has Federal funding. On election day 2022 the Sydney Morning Herald put a spotlight on the failure of the government to deliver its 2019 promise of a radiotherapy facility to service South East NSW. In an SMH article : Cancer patients still waiting on treatment centres promised at last election
Dana Daniel reported: "Health Minister Greg Hunt, who said in 2019 that too many regional Australians could not access treatment “because they live too far from their nearest radiation therapy centre”, declined to answer questions emailed by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age about the shelved centres.
Federal Labor has promised $8 million to deliver the promised radiotherapy centre at Eurobodalla Hospital near Bega, a pledge NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard called “completely ignorant ... or completely misleading” because the local state health service was not on board. Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler declined to comment."
The federal government promised $63 million during the 2019 election campaign for radiotherapy centres in 13 locations across regional Australia, described at the time as “a significant win for local cancer patients”. But many of the projects have not progressed. The summary of findings from the NSW inquiry into rural, regional and remote health findings found that the rural health system is in crisis and is failing residents of rural, regional and remote New South Wales.
That the NSW and Australian Governments:
• have had a long standing awareness of the challenges presented by their shared responsibility in health care delivery
• have failed to work together to overcome these challenges in a timely and effective manner to achieve the reform necessary to address doctor workforce issues in rural, regional and remote New South Wales.
That the health bureaucracy for rural, regional and remote areas of New South Wales is in need of significant overhaul.
Following the announcement of a $8 million commit by Labor to the South East facility Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt commented:
