$594,000 grant to improve emergency department

Improving patient privacy and safety are at the forefront of the Young Health Service’s successful $594,000 grant application for upgrades at the hospital, to be completed over the next two years. As it stands, there is no dedicated bathroom in the emergency department, and those in the waiting area can be exposed to patients being transferred from ED to the medical imaging department. With the funding obtained a unisex toilet will be constructed, and partitions established between the two departments to give greater patient privacy. The project will be Murrumbidgee Local Health District capital works manager Steve Dewar, who made the application to the state government’s Regional Health Minor Works Program. “We’ve had feedback about privacy in the waiting area, and we take all of that on board over time,” Mr Dewar said. With the application accepted planning can get underway, a process involving consultation with several departments within the hospital. “Groups make better decisions, I’m not clinical, I’m just bricks and mortar,” he said. The planning phase will involve engaging within the hospital before consulting a design consultant to visit the site and draw up the plans. From there the project can go to tender, and a builder can be engaged. “Hopefully all of that will be done before the end of June next year, and delivery can start first thing in July,” Mr Dewar said. The announcement came earlier this month as part of an extra round of funding for the MLHD, with other projects in Wagga, Leeton and Corowa to be undertaken over the same period.