Murrumburrah-Harden Hospital may suffer from estimated cuts of up to $11.4 million dollars over the next ten years. These cuts are equivalent to 7 Doctors, or 13 Nurses or 7 beds.
A Multi-Purpose Service has been planned for the Murrumburrah-Harden Hospital site with preliminary drawing already appearing in the Twin Town Times on May 5 for the construction of a new Ambulance Station on the grounds. Although the local hospital doesn’t offer major surgeries and the extensive services of large hospitals such as Wagga Base, it is an integral part of the community and public health in the area.
The Hospital employs people from within Harden Murrumburrah area as well as many people from surrounding towns. It is the first line in the defence against emergency situations before transport often occurs to larger hospitals in the region.
Public hospitals will lose more than a $1 billion in federal funding next year — the equivalent of employing 20,000 fewer nurses or providing tens of thousands fewer hip replacements and heart bypass operations. Over the next eight years those federal budget cuts will amount to $57 billion.
Already one in 10 patients are waiting over 250 days to get into a hospital for elective surgery. The Australian College Emergency Medicine says 70 per cent of patients in Australian emergency departments are waiting more than eight hours to be moved to a hospital bed after receiving emergency care. In 2011, with an ageing population and hospital funding threatening to eat entire state budgets in the future, the federal government signed a deal with state premiers promising to fund 50 per cent of the efficient growth in hospital activity after July 2017.
The current Government reneged on that deal in the 2014 and 2015 budgets and instead said it would only increase hospital funding in line with the consumer price index and population growth. The difference in the two funding formulas amounts to a $57 billion cut to hospital funding over the next eight years. The Australian Medical Association is warning hospitals are facing a “catastrophic funding crisis” as a result. Estimates indicate that nearby hospitals are also in the firing line. Mercy Care at Young $22.8 Million. Boorowa $4.5 Million and Cootamundra $22.8 Million worth of cuts over the next 10 years.
