The decision to close the Bourke Street Health Service is creating much community concern

The Bourke Street Health Service is home to oncology services, palliative care, a hydrotherapy pool, the Giles Court dementia unit, the brain injury unit, long-stay complex-care patients, patients awaiting placement, and the Aged Care and Assessment Team. Many in Goulburn have expressed concerns about where these services will be located until the Goulburn Base Hospital upgrade is completed, several years away.

Fran Croft is an oncology patient at Bourke Street Health Service, since 2013. She was “very, very upset” at finding out oncology and other services were to be fast tracked to relocation.

“We are not greyhounds, we are people,” Mrs Croft said. “This is affecting people’s lives.

“When you are undergoing chemo, it knocks you about, and you need proper access to a facility.

“Why move it now? What is the rush? Especially when the Base Hospital will not be redeveloped for another five years.

“Where are the plans? What consultation has been carried out? Where is the funding coming from? 

“Why try to fit these services into a site that has insufficient space? I don’t believe them when they say the Base is at 60 per cent capacity. Go and have a look. There is no room, no parking.”

Mrs Croft also queried what would happen to the Bourke Street Health Service equipment, which had been paid for by the community over many years.

“Everything but the fixtures and intravenous wall pumps in the units have been paid for by the community,” Mrs Croft said.

“The community also funded a vehicle for use by the palliative care nurse, and the hydrotherapy pool.

“There is thousands of dollars worth of equipment in there the community has paid for. Where is this all going to go?

“For the government to act in such a dictatorial manner is appalling. I have heard it could close as early as February next year.”