Proposed new hospital at
Frenchs Forest
More Questions than answers
History of the debate
In 1999 Dr. Stephem Christly CEO of Northern Sydney Area Health Board (NSAH) and later Central Coast Northern Sydney Area Health Board (CCNSAH) held a public meeting in Mona Vale and announced a plan to close Mona Vale and Manly Hospitals and build a new centralised hopital at French's Forest.
There was a public outcry and in 2000 a community based group Save Mona Vale Hospital(SMVH), was formed with the principle aim to "validate" the claims made by NSAH and to distribute factual information to the community.
Public rallies of 6,000 at Warringah Rugby Park and 3,000 at Village Park forced NSAH to the negotiation table.
NSAH argued that Manly Hospital was too old and run down an running two district hospitals was inefficient
A procurement Feasibility Plan (PFP) established by NSAH in 2002 determined that a broad analysis of the capital costs demonstrated that the cost difference between redeveloping Manly on the existing site compared to developing on a new site was negligible.
In August 2002 NSAH asked the community to comment on three options and distributed a newsletter to households in the Manly, Warringah and Pittwater local government areas outlining the following three options
-
Two hospital option - Metropolitan General Hospital South and Community Hospital North
-
Two Hospital option - Metropolitan General Hospital North and Community Hospital South
-
One Hospital option.
The community overwhelmingly supported option B - a Metropolitan General Hospital at Mona Vale and Manly Hospital at the southern end of the Northern Beaches. NSAH received 2,409 responses of which some 2,204 (or 91%) supported option B.
In September 2002 the then Health Minister Craig Knowles announced a one network two hospital policy with the upgrading of Mona Vale and a redevelopment of Manly on the existing site.
This decision did not suit some elements of the medical fraternity who wanted a replacement hospital for Manly, and between 2002 and 2005 there was an acrimonious debate between SNVCH and CCNSAH in the various forums and consultative committees whose task was to develop a clinical services plan for the one network two hospitals proposal. In these forums the direction was constantly turned towards a single service.
In early 2004 as the clinical services plan was being finalised CCNSAH developed a series of options for the proposed Manly hospital replacement. Beacon Hill, Mona Vale, Dee Why, French's Forest and the existng Manly site were all identified and the site constraints and advantages of each were listed. However travel times and demographics were manipulated to the disadvantage of Mona Vale.
On the 6 April 2004 Health Minister, the Hon. Morris lemma announced the Warringah Civic centre site in Dee Why as the preferred site for the relocation of Manly hospital under the one network- two hospital policy. Again this outcome did not suit some members of the community and while all this was going on there were serious staff shortages at Mona Vale and Manly, which played into the hands of the "centralists".
In 2005 a Parlimentary upper house inquiry was called by the Christian Democrats to look into "the operation of Mona Vale Hospital". Area health as well as the community were called to make submissions.
CCNSAH called senior clinicians from the department of health, members of the Greater Metropolitan Clinic Taskforce (GMCT) to provide expert opinions. They were from the "Bigger is Better"centralised philosophy highlighting work-force issues and duplication of costs. The community made submissions based on smaller hospitals using modern telecommunications and tele-health to link sites and transfer information not only for the beaches but for state-wide use.
The conclusion of the enquiry was that French's Forest was the preferred site and in March 2006 it was confirmed when the Premier, Morris lemma, announced a $250 million, 350 bed public hospital and a co-located 120 bed private facility at French's forest, with Manly to close and an undefined "complimentary role" for Mona Vale.
An upgrade of the intersection of Warringah Road and the Wakehurst Parkway was identified, as well as flood proofing of Wakehurst Parkway but no detailed costs were provided. We understand the 2011 estimate was in excess of $280 million.
