A crisis has developed in Cootamundra health care, according to a letter drafted by Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council for the attention of the NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, and the member for Cootamundra, Steph Cooke.
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The council wants the government to urgently remedy the lack of a doctor at Cootamundra hospital on weekdays, a situation that has developed because GPs are no longer being supplied from the nearby Cootamundra Medical Centre (CMC).
"Cootamundra Hospital currently has no doctors on duty to service any in-coming patients," the draft says.
"All patients are transported to Wagga base."
The grim situation of having a hospital without a doctor has necessitated ambulance personnel working dangerously long hours, making multiple trips transferring people from Cootamundra to Temora or Wagga for medical attention.
And when patients have been attended to in these centres, it's been reported they have to make their own way back to Cootamundra.
The Herald has been told that the CMC contacted the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD)12 months ago, giving it 12 months' notice that it would discontinue 'lending' the services of its GPs.
The reason was apparently because it was too disruptive to have doctors being called on unpredictably, leading to patients having to wait excessively long times.
However despite the 12 months notice, "no alternative arrangement has obviously been able to be sourced," the draft council letter said.
"This is a crisis situation in our local community and requires urgent government intervention for a solution.
"The lives of residents of Cootamundra and district are at risk."
In response to questions from the Herald, the Murrumbidgee Local Health District said it was only on weekdays that the CMC was not able to provide on-call visiting medical officer services, and it was continuing to provide on-call services at the hospital's emergency department (ED) after hours and on weekends.
MLHD Cootamundra Cluster Manager Kerry Lindeman urged residents to continue to present to the Cootamundra Hospital ED for urgent assessment and treatment.
"The ED is staffed with highly trained registered nurses who assess and triage patients," Ms Lindeman said.
"It has 24-hour access to remote medical consult services if a doctor is not present.
"A senior ED medical consultant provides all medical advice and support from presentation to discharge or retrieval to specialist care.
"The critical care advisory service also provides support through telephone and remote telehealth cameras.
"As is standard practice, patients requiring more acute care are transferred to the nearest appropriate hospital after being triaged.
"The Murrumbidgee Local Health District is working with the local doctors and other partners to explore options to enhance medical services at Cootamundra Hospital and attract more GPs to the district to support smaller rural hospitals."
