In the past week the emergency department at Wollongong hospital has again been a scene of complete chaos. The city's entire fleet of ambulances has queued for three hours, waiting to deliver emergency patients to a system in chronic overload.
The response by the state government is a promise of seven new beds and six new nursing positions to bring relief - but astonishingly - this will not happen until at least June next year - a whole twelve months away !
It doesn't take Einstein to figure out how to bring instant relief. This city used to have three emergency departments - Crown street, Bulli and Port Kembla.
The state government closed Port Kembla and is well on the way to closing Bulli. Ambulance crews must take all patients - irrespective of severity or need - to the one overcrowded emergency room in Crown street.
Simply reopen Bulli emergency - and let ambulance crews do triage. Crown street has the facilities to treat severe trauma, but Bulli could easily handle broken bones and minor injuries - and take pressure off Crown street.
But - this will not happen for the same reason that Crown street will wait a whole year for those additional beds and nursing positions.
The state government does not have the money to deliver a decent health system - and as long as it is in charge we will have third world facilities.
One of Kevin Rudd's promises before the last Federal election was a commitment to take over Australia's hospital system - if conditions had not improved by the middle of this year.
Times up, Prime Minister. The evil hour has arrived - and the hospital system is still suffering terminal illness.
The only form of government with the deep pockets to resuscitate health is the government that sits in Canberra - and now the people of Australia are waiting of Kevin07 to prove he is not just another lying politician !
Lets hope health does not join Fuel-watch and Grocery-watch as broken promises this Prime Minister has walked away from !
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