Local health advocate Shirlee Burge has threatened to get the Independent Commission Against Corruption involved, after Finley Hospital was this week granted $25 million in state funding for no apparent reason.
Sunday’s funding announcement from Premier Dominic Perrottet, Deputy Premier Paul Toole and Health Minister Brad Hazzard came as a complete surprise to the Finley community.
And Murrumbidgee Local Health District has said the money is not allocated to any one particular project. It said it would review its Clinical Service Plan in consultation with the community to determine the best use of the funds.
Meanwhile, Mrs Burge and other health advocates have been lobbying for decades for more money to be spent at Deniliquin Hospital, to return it to the community health hub it once was.
Information researched by Mrs Burge indicates less than $7 million dollars has been spent on Deniliquin Hospital since 1980. And even after it became a key election issue in 2019, Deniliquin Hospital would only be granted $3.2 million — which many said was at least $80 million short of what is really needed.
Finley’s $25 million windfall on Sunday was among six to be granted, totalling $500 million and promoted as an ‘‘investment in health that will deliver enhanced health services and more jobs closer to home’’.
Also allocated was $111.5 million for a Cessnock Hospital redevelopment, $60 million towards the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital (to a total of $260 million), $6.4 million to expand Wyong Hospital’s Cancer Day Unit to deliver specialist cancer ambulatory treatment services, $6 million for biomedical equipment upgrades across the Western NSW Local Health District and $1 million for planning for a Wagga Wagga Health and Knowledge precinct.
It comes just weeks after NSW Member for Albury Justin Clancy expressed a desire for more investment in Albury Base Hospital, which would potentially put Deniliquin’s plans on the backburner.