Inverell's Bob Bensley was "appalled" upon reading the news that the region's mayors voted to investigate a return to the New England Health District - as opposed to the "top-heavy" Hunter New England Health District.
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Speaking directly to the mayor at the general council meeting, Mr Bensley slammed the council for "going down this track".
"I cannot believe that the Inverell council has chosen to go down this track.
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"How do you now what the Inverell community thinks or expects? I don't know. I haven't seen a questionnaire out yet," he said. "I don't think the Inverell community knows what it expects anyway - it's too difficult of a subject."
In response, Mayor Paul Harmon said the "media" had aired the intention to investigate the return to two new health districts before any real work had been done in that quarter.
"To put some things into perspective, after a meeting with the federal and rural health minister, and doctors here, he spoke about the fact he thought HNEH area was too large, and the fact that it does seem to be Newcastle centric," Cr Harmon said.
"I raised that issue at the joint organisation of mayors for our region and asked if we should investigate whether HNEH should be split in two.
"It was spoken in the media well before the investigations have continued - and now the ball is rolling."
Mr Bensley, something of a self-appointed Inverell-based health historian, said the model of health districts had been "disasters from the word go" and another model was necessary.
Speaking to the Times after the council meeting, Mr Bensley said in his view instead of reverting back to the previous health district, what was needed was a short-term fix of staffing and resource "mismanagement" before looking at a completely new system of health organisation.
He praised MP Adam Marshall's call for immediate steps to be taken to rectify the dire situation facing the region's health services and hospitals, or for HNEH CEO Michael DiRienzo to step aside.
Mr Bensley has been following and analysing the health services in Inverell since at least the 2000s.
"When New England Health downgraded our facilities in 2000... I watched it go from bad to worse," he explained.
"I couldn't believe, right from the start of that health district, they did not want to communicate at all with the local community... I watched the local community, the local doctors, fight to tell them they were heading in the wrong direction."
He fears by pushing for a de-merger, the process "could take years", time spent away from working on a real solution.
Cr Harmon thanked Mr Bensley for his wisdom, and said the last thing he wanted to see was the creation of "another layer of bureaucracy" which he believes is where the money is going.
"If talk of a de-merger will actually create some action, well then that's what it's all about.
"If this is the first step to rattle some cages and actually get some action, then that's what we want to do.
"(Health) is a mess - it's like trying to untangle fishing line - you think you've just about got it untangled and you have another mess sitting behind you."
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