Barbara Roughan, Relocate Tweed Valley Hospital
In last week’s Tweed Valley Weekly, Geoff Provest is quoted, ‘I am disappointed with the Relocate Team spreading misinformation.’
Health Infrastructure are quoted, ‘if no agreement can be reached on the price of the land at Cudgen, the matter will be referred to the Valuer-General.’
This comes a week after Mr Provest said that the sale could go through as early as the next day. Is this misinformation, given that protracted negotiations are happening and perhaps compulsory site acquisition will have to be done?
Are the Health Infrastructure team guilty of misinformation as well when they will not clearly state that the current Tweed Heads Hospital will close as a hospital? By stating that some out-of-hospital services will be retained, they are deliberately confusing many residents who still believe that they will be able to be treated there. This is not so, as all existing hospital services will be transferred and relocated to the new Tweed Valley Hospital.
Our group of concerned farmers and residents are spreading correct information, trying to reach many older residents who don’t have access to the internet, and who rely mainly on the free papers for their news. We wouldn’t have had to deliver fact sheets to Tweed Shire residents if the truth had been told about the hospital closure from day one.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
