Kelvin and Candy Jubb gave Inverell almost ten years but the lack of health services drove them from town in the end.
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The couple, who were police officers in Inverell, left town a couple of years ago.
“The hospital was just part of a bigger problem,’’ Mrs Jubb said.
“The real big reason was that people wouldn’t stay.
“You might go to a speech pathologist and after a few months they have moved on.
“We’d go up to the hospital accident and emergency and quite often there were only stressed out nurses there,’’ she said.
Mrs Jubb was responding to The Times story last week about the emergency department at Inverell Hospital operating on the weekend without a doctor for shifts on Saturday and Sunday.
The Jubbs have six children at home, four with autism.
It was the amount of care the family couldn’t get that led the couple to find a better town to live in.
They researched locations and asked to be transferred.
They now live in Goulburn: perfectly located 1.5 hours from Sydney and one hour from Canberra.
“We’ve got access to physiotherapy, occupational therapy, neurology, just to name a few.
“It used to cost us $700 to see someone in Armidale and here it is publicly funded through the hospital.
“It is fabulous.’’ she said.
Brad Hilton headed to Inverell Hospital emergency department on Saturday, November 26 after slashing his foot while lawn mowing.
No doctor was there to treat him and he was told he would need to go to Armidale Hospital for stitches in his foot.
He was eventually treated by a visiting obstetrician but he said the situation was ludicrious.
“If it takes the community to say this is crazy, well, so be it,’’ he said.
When Ashfield farmer Paul O’Brien took an ambulance to the hospital after cutting his leg with an angle grinder, there was no doctor on. He stood up for the doctors but questioned what the outcome might have been if his injury had been worse.
MEMBER for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall has called on Hunter New England Health (HNEH) to “please explain’’ why Inverell and and also Glen Innes Hospital were without doctors on duty at times.
Mr Marshall said he was concerned these were not isolated incidents and had since learnt that doctor services were not provided at Inverell Hospital for a further two days last week.
“The Inverell community has fought hard to secure $30 million to redevelop its hospital and with planning for this work in the final stages, the community needs guarantees about doctor coverage in the hospital,’’ he said. He has called for a meeting with HNEHealth.
