NSW Member for Murray Helen Dalton is hosting a ‘rally’ at Deniliquin Hospital on Monday morning, and invites anyone with a story to tell to come along.
She will be at the entrance to maternity, on Macauley St, Deniliquin, at 10.30am.
Mrs Dalton’s move has been prompted by the latest changes to health services at Deniliquin Hospital.
In today’s edition of the Pastoral Times, Murrumbidgee Local Health District responded to concerns raised by community members who understood palliative care would not be available after hours and on weekends for the time being.
MLHD has confirmed that while there are staffing issues within the service, access would remain available to families 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“To ensure continued access to care during staff leave, MLHD has arranged for a specialist palliative care nurse from Finley to visit patients in the Deniliquin area providing comprehensive in-person consultations,” an MLHD spokesperson said.
“A district-wide after hours on-call service is also available to provide virtual specialist care for all patients outside of regular business hours.”
The palliative care changes came just weeks after temporary changes were implemented at Deniliquin Hospital’s maternity unit, due to midwives being temporarily unavailable on weekends.
Access to the GP obstetrician was to be maintained throughout.
MLHD advised today, through the Deniliquin Local Health Advisory Committee, that maternity services have now returned to a 24/7 service due to the recruitment of an agency midwife.
But Mrs Dalton’s team pointed out that agency nurses are not a permanent solution to the staffing issues at hand, and raised concerns there may be further disruptions to health services.
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