Friday 5 March 2010

HORNSBY HOSPITAL JOKE: TEBBUTT’S BANDAID FAILS TO COVER 15 YEARS OF LABOR NEGLECT

Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt’s bandaid measure at Hornsby Hospital does nothing to reverse the systemic structural problems at the facility that have been allowed to accumulate over 15 years of neglect, Deputy NSW Opposition Leader and Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner and Liberal Member for Hornsby Judy Hopwood said today.

“Putting a new roof on a building that desperately needs to be replaced proves Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt is all spin and no substance,” Mrs Skinner said.

“This is like putting a new windscreen wiper blade on an old, clapped out bomb of a car and expecting the driver to do better,” she said.

“It just shows up the ineptitude of inexperienced Labor Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt who has been in the job just 6 months.

“The latest Hornsby Hospital Master Plan calls for some buildings to be torn down and replaced: is Carmel Tebbutt re-roofing a building that is only going to be pulled down?

“The way this incompetent and wasteful State Labor Government operates, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if this is what happened.

“Carmel Tebbutt’s announcement is nothing more than a pathetic bandaid measure designed to make the headlines disappear, but the problems at Hornsby Hospital will continue.”

Mrs Hopwood said “Putting a new room on a hospital with walls damaged by termites shows just how ignorant and cynical Carmel Tebbutt really is.

“Everyone knows Hornsby Hospital needs more than a single new roof – it needs a genuine investment by the State Labor Government.

“Doctors, nurses and others at Hornsby have contacted me today to say how disgusted they are with the State Labor Government’s pathetic roofing proposal.

“Today we learned the State Labor Government spent $25 million on a building for the Rozelle Metro that has been axed, but Carmel Tebbutt can’t find the money to make the real improvements to Hornsby Hospital. It’s disgraceful,” Mrs Hopwood said.