CANCER CARE CENTRE NEEDS APPROVAL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

Photo courtesy of Cancer Care Associates

This week I called for the Comprehensive Cancer Centre planned for 88-90 Cornwall Street in Taree to be approved as soon as possible.

At a recent meeting of the Joint Regional Planning Panel, the development application was deferred to allow the applicant to modify the proposal which had been recommended for refusal by MidCoast Council.

In the lead up to the 2019 election, the former Federal Coalition Government announced funding for a service in our region, and after being re-elected, funding of $4.5-million was awarded to Cancer Care Associates to support the delivery of the new service - Cancer Care Manning Great Lakes.

Given the development application involved a project worth over $5-million, the assessment of the application was undertaken by MidCoast Council and referred to the Joint Regional Planning Panel for a determination.

I must say I was very disappointed by Council’s recommendation for refusal. In a region of over 95,000 people, there is an urgent need for comprehensive cancer care services including radiotherapy, and I would like to think that MidCoast Council would recognise and support this.

At present, cancer sufferers either have to travel to Newcastle or Port Macquarie to receive treatment. If they can’t travel, then they miss out on potentially life-saving treatment.

In tale of two cities, Griffith was awarded funding at the same time. Its council facilitated support given its community was in desperate need of the service. The Griffith service has been operational since June.

I was pleased the JRPP recognised both the significance and the importance of the proposed regional health facility.

I note their comments:

“𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦.”

Council should refer to its own Manning Health/Taree CBD Precinct Plan prepared in 2019 and assess this project favourably.

There was an extraordinary amount of work which went into producing that planning document and included a great deal of community and industry consultation which ultimately got adopted. The proposed facilities certainly meet the core objectives of this plan.

I’m now calling on Council to work with the applicants to see this long overdue and life-saving regional health service approved and built as soon as possible.

I know our community will be extraordinarily disappointed if this significant health service for our region is knocked on the head because of bureaucratic red tape. Already this process has probably added millions to the cost and because of further delays, it has prevented cancer sufferers from receiving the life-saving care they need close to home, family and friends.