Feds' new outpatients facility 'fantastic'

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2595 Robyn Lambley #2 OKLETTER TO THE EDITOR
 
Sir – I welcome the Federal Government’s commitment to the Alice Springs Hospital and their promise to fund a new $25.7m ambulatory care facility (or outpatient facility).
 
With the Morrison Government winning the Federal election this is actually going to be delivered. This is fantastic news for Central Australia.
 
Our current outpatient department is old and congested. The Morrison Government will provide the funding in 2019/20.
 
However, with the Gunner Government failing to address the car parking crisis at the hospital, the construction of a new facility will mean even fewer car parks. This will place even more pressure on the sick, elderly and disabled who are trying to get access.
 
In a briefing I had with NT Health Department officials I was advised that the new outpatient facility will be located adjacent to the Traeger Park School, at a site currently used for car parking.
 
Yet the NT Government has still not made a decision about exactly how they will address the ongoing problem of car parking.
 
The Health Minister, Natasha Fyles, planned and built a $13m multi-story carpark at Royal Darwin Hospital in less than two years. But for Alice Springs we get almost three years of planning and no action. Alice Springs people deserve better.
 
This comes after the Gunner Government rejected my motion in the NT Parliament a few weeks ago calling for a new hospital at a new site by 2030.
 
With even less space at the current site, a real vision and commitment to the future of the Alice Springs Hospital is required by the NT Government.
 
Robyn Lambley
Independent Member for Araluen
 
 
 

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