1. I hope that chaplaincy/pastoral care facilities will be incorporated in the final designation of space. Travelling to Tamworth and John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle last year with my brother, I was very grateful for the excellent pastoral care received from chaplains at both hospitals. John Hunter chaplains have a room adjacent to the chapel where chaplains of the various denominations can be contacted and spoken to in privacy. Both hospitals have a chapel as well as a quiet/meditation room. The quiet room in both hospitals was equipped with ablution facilities for Moslems, though the John Hunter one was, in my view, too small.

I hope that at least a quiet room with space for a number of people to pray in together, or to sit in privately, will be available in the redeveloped Inverell Hospital, with a chaplains' interview and counselling room nearby. At the moment, it looks like that will have to be in the refurbished section (the present hospital building). Ablution facilities should be installed and possibly prayer mats provided to accommodate the prayer needs of Moslem people. The ritual needs of other groups should be seriously considered. We must assume that in the years ahead Inverell will be a diversified community.

The therapeutic value of meditation/mindfulness is being increasingly acknowledged. I found it immensely helpful myself to be able to use the quiet rooms of both Tamworth and Newcastle hospitals in a very challenging medical situation for our family over an extended period.

I hope the leaders of the Inverell Christian communities, at least, will insist on the planners providing chaplaincy/pastoral care facilities, so that the religious and spiritual needs of country people in our smaller towns are acknowledged and provided for as they clearly are in the hospitals of the larger population centres as normal practice.

2. I was assured that attention would be given to including art work in the new hospital by a committee set up for this purpose. Both Tamworth and Newcastle give a lot of attention to this, though it is a matter of regret that visual art does not seem to make it into the patients' wards. I was told that this has to do with infection control. That is difficult to credit when you see how many other items are there in the wards.

A space dedicated to art therapy for patients who may not be bed-bound would be welcome. I imagine art books, DVDs and equipment for painting/manual work might be available in an activities room/rehabilitation facility, with occasional talks from visitors on topics in art, music and other areas. The use of arts in healthcare is a burgeoning area of research, interest and practice today. Country people should not expect to be disadvantaged in this area.

3. It is a matter of deep regret that only minimal rehabilitation space will be part of the hospital redevelopment, as far as I could see and understand. The numbers of aged people in our country towns who will have to cope with fractures and replacement surgery, with heart attacks and strokes, and so on, with subsequent rehabilitation, should mean dedicating significant space to a rehabilitation ward in a town the size of Inverell with its surrounding smaller towns and villages.

Having to travel from Inverell to Armidale and Tamworth, or even further, for rehabilitation puts great strain on families and carers time-wise and cost-wise. That does not seem to concern the planners. Having to find accommodation away from home, sometimes for extended periods, in Tamworth and Armidale can be very trying, where the hospitals have only very limited accommodation for carers and relatives. Much more attention should be given to providing accommodation for these people by hospital planners as a matter of course; it should not be left to voluntary groups in the community to take up the burden when we know today how important the presence and support of carers and relatives is to patient health and to effective palliative care. Allocation of accommodation on site at hospitals should be placed in the hands of social workers or professional pastoral care people and not left to general administration personnel.

4. It is highly desirable in future hospital and community health planning that palliative care facilities, expertise and personnel will be greatly expanded in Inverell, and that effective co-ordination between health workers and pastoral care professionals will make the town a showpiece in the area of palliative care, for which there is currently a desperate need in country towns especially.