Facility to close

Kyneton District Health Service board president, Graham Jasper, and CEO, Jennifer Gale, this week announced the impending closure of the hospital's Thomas Hogan Aged Care wing.

Angela Crawford

Kyneton District Health Service has announced the impending closure of its Thomas Hogan Residential Aged Care wing.

The facility's 35 staff were notified on Wednesday morning, and the families of its 15 high-care residents were informed later that day.

It will cease operating as soon as July 1.

KDHS chief executive officer, Jennifer Gale, said the health service is hoping the move will free up about $150,000 operationally a year. These funds would enable the hospital to provide additional services aimed at keeping residents in their homes as long as possible, before they need to enter residential aged care.

"There will also be additional in-hospital services," she said.

"This change is part of an Australia-wide trend for public hospitals to move away from operating nursing homes to instead providing a range of services available to all elderly members of the community."

Ms Gale said that in recent years the facility had seen a steady decline in the number of residents, as people chose to stay at home for longer, or entered residential aged care at low-care stage, moving through to high care at the one facility. 

"At the same time there has been a growth in the number of beds provided locally by both private and not-for-profit operators, to the point where there is really no need for us to provide a nursing home," she said.

"We believe aged care is a service that we should provide to the whole community, and this will be a much better way for us to deliver that service.

"It is more rewarding for people to stay in their own homes, with appropriate support, for as long as possible, and we aim to ensure that is delivered in our region."

A daughter of one of the residents, however, pointed out that the hospital's idea to provide care that will enable more people to stay at home for longer, would actually mean that a higher number would end up going straight into high care.

"My mum doesn't want to move, she's settled in now," the daughter said. "She had the choice of going to three (facilities) and she picked Thomas Hogan because she knew people there and it was attached to the hospital.

"I think it's a shame that this well-equipped facility is not going to be utilised."

Ms Gale said the hospital will work closely with residents and families to enable a smooth transition of its residents to a new home.

"We've been discussing with them the future of our service for the last year, because we've been operating at 60 per cent occupancy with no waiting list (for the past three years)," she said.

"At 15 residents, it was approximately $50,000 a month that we were losing, about half a million a year at our current occupancy levels.

"Commonwealth and state subsidies still left a funding shortfall of about $250,000 a year, even when the facility was full."

Ms Gale said no determination has yet been made about the number of staff who will be made redundant. 

"That will be worked out with them individually over the next two weeks. At this stage, they all have positions until the 30th of June at least," she said. 

"Where we have vacancies within our service we'll look to redeploy them and we're talking to other facilities in our shire and within the Loddon Mallee to see where they may have vacancies so we'll be assisting the staff with transfers if that's what they want."

Kyneton Hospital's executive is currently undertaking a site masterplan which will determine how the Thomas Hogan wing will be used.

Board 'confident' in running of hospital

"I believe it's a model for the state." - Kyneton Hospital board president, Graham Jasper

Angela Crawford

Despite growing community concern about the breakdown of the after-hours urgent care clinic and general service provision at Kyneton Hospital, board president, Graham Jasper, said he is confident the health service is being run "exceptionally well".

Mr Jasper said community members have expectations beyond what the hospital is funded to deliver.

"They don't understand. I believe it's run exceptionally well, it gets recognised all the time, but not in the local paper," Mr Jasper said.

"I believe it's a model for the state."

Board member since 1996 and former board president, Noel Harvey, agrees.

"Management runs the hospital consistent with the directions from the board, which are consistent with government policy," he said.

"I understand there's some people who don't necessarily like that direction."

In response to the Guardian's questions in relation to additional strain being placed on the ambulance service as a result of a lack of after-hours emergency care available at Kyneton, Mr Harvey pointed out that Victoria's whole health system is under strain.

"Kyneton is not immune from that," he said. 

"The hospital has increasing pressure from its community ... we actually did have a balanced budget last year, and we had planned on a balanced budget this year, but the argy-bargy between the state and federal government (in relation to the federal government's withdrawal of funding to the state) is having an impact on all health services, and we are no exception to that ... and we are going to have to make some reductions in our spending to comply."

Mr Harvey said the board takes full responsibility for the running of the hospital.

"In reality, criticism of management is actually criticism of the board, because management is implementing decisions of the board," he said.

Mr Jasper said board members have no reason to speak to staff members beneath the executive about any managerial issues they may have. He did, however, invite hospital staff members or members of the community with any concerns relating to the hospital to contact him directly.

"If they have concerns about the operation or processes at the hospital, I'm more than happy to discuss these with them personally, they can ring me on my home telephone number, 5422 2555," he said.

"I can't deal with these things if nobody talks about them. Those people can just as easily resolve this issue by coming and talking to me themselves. I don't like fighting these battles through the paper."

Nominations for appointments to the Board of Kyneton Hospital close today for four part-time vacancies - two of which are possible reappointments.

Mr Jasper explained that board members nominate a selection panel from within the board, which then makes recommendations to the full board, and those are forwarded to the Minister for Health.

"They are ministerial appointments, once they leave our hands we have no (further) input," he said.