Government funding decisions can mean life or death for non-metropolitan hospitals – even when allocations are a tiny part of the NSW Health budget .

Take the recent decision to scale back redevelopment of Muswellbrook District Hospital in the Upper Hunter region.

The previous government allocated $45 million for the job. That equates to 1.6 per cent of the $2.8 billion budgeted for NSW Health capital works in 2022-23.

The redevelopment has completed Stage 2 but NSW Health says $45M will no longer cover all of Stage 3 due to rising construction costs.

Rather than find extra money, the revised plans scrap new operating suites and a new sterilisation department and downsize the new inpatient unit and maternity unit.

Hospital upgrades in other regional towns such as Glen Innes, Gunnedah and Moree are also being scaled back due to rising construction costs.

The ministry’s about-face had left Muswellbrook hospital’s future hanging 
by a thread but it also galvanised the local NSWNMA branch into action.

Branch Beat reports on how Muswellbrook branch is battling to save 
the hospital that has served the people of the Upper Hunter for more 
than a century.

Strike vote gets a rethink on hospital rebuild

Muswellbrook nurses were “devastated” to learn that vital elements of their Stage 3 upgrade would no longer proceed, said Peggy Smith, NSWNMA branch vice president and delegate.

“Our old building is very run down; the door of our patient bathroom fell off its hinges with 
a patient inside the other day,” 
she said.

“No money has been spent on repairs because the building was supposedly about to be upgraded.”

Peggy said the existing theatre does not meet accreditation standards and only received accreditation in 2019 on the understanding it was being upgraded.

Accreditation is due again in December 2023 and some surgeons have said they might stop working there due to the infection risk.

“We know that if the theatre had to stop for a few months over compliance issues we probably would not be able to get the 
surgeons back.”

The scaling back of renova-tions follows the loss of Muswellbrook Hospital’s aged care facility and closure of the maternity in-patient unit in recent years.

“Increasingly our patients are 
being funnelled to metropolitan areas away from their families,” Peggy said.

“There’s a total lack of equity between metropolitan and regional areas. We only have one train up and back to Newcastle each day to see a specialist at John Hunter Hospital.

“It’s too hard for some people to get to appointments, their condition deteriorates and they end up presenting back to us with acute consequences of delayed treatment.”

Seeking members’ views

On learning the upgrade had been scaled down, Peggy and other branch officials spoke to as many staff members as possible to get 
their views.

“People wanted to do something but weren’t sure what,” she said.

“We sent a protest email to Health Minister Ryan Park. His office advised us to keep talking to NSW Health Infrastructure.

“We sought advice from our NSWNMA officials who offered their full support. They recommended calling a branch meeting to get members views 
and see how many were willing to take action.

“The meeting was one of the biggest turnouts we’ve ever had. We got strong feedback from members who voted for a one-hour stopwork meeting.”

The branch had already built a strong foundation for action with around 95 per cent union membership across the hospital.

“We are always recruiting new people; when a new staff member joins the hospital everybody talks to them about making sure they are part of the union,” Peggy said.

“We have our own private Facebook group where we share information and everybody chats on it. We aim to make new members feel welcome and involved with the union.

“A high branch membership means you get broad feedback from every section of your facility and lots of different ideas and opinions. It is a strong basis of support when you’re trying to run a campaign.”

Two days after voting for a stopwork meeting the branch was contacted by Minister Ryan Park who offered a meeting with his chief of staff Matt McLean and representatives of the Treasurer and Health Infrastructure – providing the branch called off 
its stoppage.

Keeping the community informed

Branch officials consulted with members on shift that day before deciding to accept the offer and convert the stoppage to a lunchtime community rally, in order to keep the public informed and onside.

Meanwhile, Peggy contacted the local newspaper, radio and 
television station to publicise the rally. She and theatre nurse Kathryn Black also met with local Nationals MP Dave Layzell.

He and Muswellbrook mayor Steve Reynolds were among over 50 people who attended the community rally.

“The community was quite outraged that we were possibly losing yet another service,” Peggy said.

The meeting with the minister’s chief of staff Matt McLean coincided with the NSWNMA national conference in Sydney, so the branch was able to send three delegates –  Alex Stevenson, Kayla Collins 
and Peggy.

Peggy said they received a sympathetic hearing and were promised $100,000 to ensure the theatre 
could meet accreditation standards in December.

Several days later, McLean advised that Health Infrastructure had commenced an independent architectural review of the project.

“They are going to share with us a few different plans and get staff feedback on them,” Peggy said.

“They also agreed to further community consultation once a new master plan is completed.

“The battle is not over but we have gained some concessions while we continue our campaign.”