The Boards of Maldon Hospital and Castlemaine Health recently wound up their community consultation regarding their proposed amalgamation and presented their findings back to the community.
According to the data attained the majority of the feedback about the potential move was overwhelmingly positive.
The two boards believe amalgamation would deliver better health services for the communities of Mount Alexander, and secure Maldon Hospital in its current form for generations to come.
The boards are commissioning a proposal that will examine the potential benefits of unification and sought input from the community over four weeks of consultation.
Maldon Hospital board chair Vanessa Healy said they were very pleased with the response from the community.
“We had 174 surveys returned with the majority submitted online and 34 hand written submissions. We had numbers in the high 90s submitted from the Maldon community and more than 50 responses from the Castlemaine community and surrounds including Harcourt, Elphinstone, Campbells Creek and Newstead,” she said.
“We also had more than 100 face to face meetings and phone meetings with groups and individuals which covered quite a large catchment which was fantastic,” Ms Healy said.
Some of the keys themes were: that the hospital must maintain its building and name and local representative structures; improve access to a diverse range of GPs; increase services for LGBTQI+ and gender diverse people; and many expressed concerns about the hospital maintaining its “independence”. See the December 31 edition of the Mail for the full story…