PETITION

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the

Legislative Assembly of New South Wales.
The Petition of citizens of Tumut, the Snowy Valleys Council region and Wagga Wagga
electorate

Brings to the attention of the House the immediate need for two full-time doctors with
emergency and anaesthetic qualifications to be employed at Tumut Hospital.
There is an absence of an on-call doctor in some instances for several days at a time and a
lack of doctors with emergency and anaesthetic qualifications. The Hospital’s area of
emergency responsibility is over 15,000 square kilometres about the size of Northern Ireland
and the region is unique in its variety of sources for serious large emergencies from the mills,
snow fields, waterways, tourist buses, logging, bush fires, and more. If a helicopter is
available one or two critically ill patients may be evacuated leaving behind others without the
care of appropriately trained doctors and while telehealth is a valuable resource hands-on care
from these doctors is essential. Patients are being ferried to Wagga Wagga for non-
emergency situations taking paramedics out of action locally for hours at a time.
Our citizens deserve appropriate medical care and yet the current situation confirms research
which shows that the further away from a metropolitan hospital the greater the delay in
receiving appropriate care and the greater the risk of poor health outcomes.

The undersigned petitioners therefore ask the Legislative Assembly to call on the NSW
Ministry of Health to employ two full-time doctors with emergency and anaesthetic
qualifications at Tumut Hospital

Name Address Signature

The undersigned petitioners ask the Legislative Assembly to call on the NSW Ministry of
Health to employ two full-time doctors with emergency and anaesthetic qualifications at
Tumut Hospital

Name Address Signature