Hospital update a win for Wagga Wagga electorate

Member for Wagga Wagga Dr Joe McGirr has claimed victory, following the reveal of the Master Plan for the Tumut Hospital redevelopment.

After months of lobbying for an update on the by-election promise, a skeleton timeline was produced at a community information session on Thursday.

The long-awaited $50 million upgrade was promised in August last year and followed decades of community-backed calls to update the 119-year-old facility.

This week’s drop-in information session came after Dr McGirr last month called on the NSW Government to provide an update, outlining projected planning and construction dates.

In response, the NSW Deputy Premier assured the electorate work would begin before 2020, but Dr McGirr said local residents and hospital staff were skeptical and wanted to see progress.

The Wagga Wagga electorate MP said it was great to see such a prompt and positive response to his request, with Murrumbidgee Local Health District and Health Infrastructure hosting the forum on February 28.

“I have worked to share the concerns of the Snowy Valleys community since my election in September last year,” Dr McGirr said.  

“The lack of an official start date was an issue I raised in January and it’s great to see the government taking steps to provide that transparency in the planning process.”

According to the NSW Government, the master planning for the site was set to include a location for the Tumut Ambulance station in the future.

Dr McGirr said it was unfortunate the initial design plan didn’t have a site picked out for the new station, but he was looking forward to hearing more about the additional facility in time.