Support better health services here

The Woy Woy Public Hospital Alliance is a group of dedicated people who attend monthly meetings to discuss ways and means of influencing our political representatives to restore out hospital to its former capacity.

It also discusses the need to upgrade those services to cater for the planned increases to our resident population.

As part of the planned population increase, there are two more retirement villages being built in the area.

That's 300 more over-55s, in addition to other retirees choosing to reside on the Peninsula.

We wish them a happy retirement and good health.

If they don't have reasonably good health, their retirement may not be as happy and satisfying as it should be... unless we get this issue right.

To date, we have been disgracefully ignored by those who have allowed rehabilitation services to be relocated to Wyong Hospital in Kanwal.

This is an insulting attitude of those elected and paid to protect the interests of their constituents.

Politics should be more than dollar value for wages.

We would expect some empathy for our ageing population, some capacity to judge a situation and a commitment to do the right thing.

We positively do have the support of Gosford Council.

Members of the council do attend our meetings and have been able to research and pass on useful information relating to the recently released Local Environment Plan.

We also need community support including that from clubs, RSL, Vietnam veterans, schools, real estate agents, shops and other businesses.

Everybody should be interested in better health services located in our own area.

The information released claiming an existing plan to close some 117 local hospital across the state of NSW including our own Woy Woy Hospital beggars belief.

Most, if not all of these hospitals were part funded by the local communities, many of them as memorial hospitals.

How can it be that the effort and dedication of all those communities, including our own, can be viewed by some persons with such disdain, wiped off the board and the records abandoned?

Don't let this happen, don't even allow a change of name to medical centre in the case of Woy Woy Hospital.

Demand what you are entitled to.

Few will remember the amalgamation of Woy Woy Shire Council with Gosford in 1946.

Bigger doesn't always translate to better.

Put that in the basket with "single point entry" and other recently developed expressions meaning change... to what?

Letter, 18 Mar 2010 Marjory Cleere, Umina