The mayor, who said that “for too long, Western Sydney has been forgotten in the area of health, and it is the people, our community that suffer,” will instigate a community petition seeking the upgrade and significant resourcing allocation for Auburn and Westmead hospitals, including the reinstatement of a dedicated palliative care unit at Westmead. He will also write to the relevant Members of Parliament and the Premier strongly advocating for the required upgrades and funding.
He said the reinstatement of a dedicated palliative care unit at Westmead Hospital is a must, while more resourcing and funding should also be allocated to Auburn Hospital to allow the hiring of more skilled staff, such as nurses and doctors to enable more services to be run.
“Given the aggressive housing targets set for our Council by the State Government, it once again brings us to the discussion about the provision of infrastructure and funding to support this projected growth,” he said.
“I firmly believe that if the State Government want to mandate aggressive housing targets for our Council to reach, that they must provide this Council with the appropriate funding and infrastructure to support this.
“The basic needs for our community include modern and multi-functional local hospitals, equipped to help people.
“It is clear that the hospitals servicing Cumberland City Council residents are rundown, and only have partial capacity to support certain illnesses and conditions, with many of our residents having to be transferred to another hospital outside the LGA when they become ill.”
