After recently suffering a stroke I have been extremely fortunate to be doing my rehabilitation at the Ballina Hospital rehabilitation unit.
I cannot speak highly enough of the professionalism and kindness of all staff including cleaners, kitchen staff, wardsmen, nurses, doctors, physios, and OTs and OT assistants and administration.
Nothing is too much trouble for these wonderful people and they deserve the highest praise for the care they give to patients.
During my stay, three areas that seem at odds with this otherwise-excellent facility are cause for concern.
The use of bottled water throughout the hospital which is sourced from a private company AAA Bottled Water which is located in Penrith. This water doesn’t taste the best and the bottles are overfilled so they spill and they are made of very thin plastic that can leak. This is in direct contrast with Queensland hospitals that provide a fresh jug of water and plastic glass each day.
Secondly another private company Hills provides TVs for patients, at a cost of $10 a day, $47 a week, or $87 a month. Now this is just free-to-air TV, not a bad little earner. In Queensland TV is free just as it should be in NSW hospitals.
The most important area is the 18 hospital beds in the mothballed Transitional Care Unit that have remained unused for the past six years due to funding cuts from NSW Health. All of these can be easily fixed with common sense and the will to improve.
Scott Hyams, Mullumbimby
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