IF SWAN Hill District Health was to undergo a full medical check it would most likely be diagnosed with a severe case of ‘isolation syndrome’.
While the hospital works to improve efficiencies so that it can recover the $374,000 lost with Commonwealth health service cuts, Swan Hill District Health (SHDH) chief executive officer, Ted Rayment, said he believed the town was disadvantaged as a result of its location.
“We suffer from our isolation but what can we do?” Mr Rayment said.
“It is a dilemma for us really.”
Costs associated with ambulance transfers and the inability to attract full-time obstetricians to the region have placed increased pressures on the local health service at a time when it has been forced to cut costs halfway through the financial year.
Mr Rayment said if a patient required further treatment from a larger hospital SHDH was responsible for footing the patient transfer bill, which equated to a $2 million shortfall in ambulance funding.
And while the hospital has been able to secure a good supply of locum obstetricians, Mr Rayment said it had come at a cost.
Although the exact figure was not revealed, the CEO said savings could be made if the positions were filled permanently.
Adding further financial pressures to the situation, Mr Rayment said the hospital had operated above and beyond its funded capacity last year for elective surgery.
For more on this story, see Friday’s edition of The Guardian
(08/02/13).
