Concerns for adequate hospital staff raised at council meeting

Due to open in nine months time, Mr Bensley now has concerns the new state-of-the-art hospital will not be met with an adequate number of qualified health professionals.

Mr Bensley voiced his concerns to councillors on Wednesday afternoon in the public gallery of Inverell Shire Council's monthly meeting, in the hopes they may further investigate.

His address outlined his his biggest concern being "the apparent continuation of Hunter New England Health's (HNEH) practice of never conducting genuine consultations with our local community and of adopting a 'we know best' attitude to any subject."

SEE MORE:

"At the centre of my concerns is the question of whether our hospital is adequately staffed, into the future, to cope with the demands that it services may be called on to provide, 24 hours per day.

"In this context, the term 'staffed' would have to include the present and future availability for visiting medical offices and anaesthetists," he told councillors.

Councillors resolved to contact HNEH to ask for a current update of their staffing situation and future updates of staffing numbers once the new facility is complete and running.

Once information is provided by HNEH, deputy mayor Anthony Michael said councillors will discuss further action if necessary.

Mr Bensley has also kept MP Adam Marshall in the loop about his concerns. Mr Marshall has since met with Health Minister Brad Hazzard.

"[Brad] has assured me the hospital will be fully staffed, as it is required to be. I will not allow the bigwigs at Hunter New England Health to deny our community of the resources we are entitled to. Together we fought them to gain the new hospital, double its size, keep two operating theatres and add a CT scanner.

"If I need to, I am ready to do battle again to ensure we get what we are entitled to," Mr Marshall said.