Mr DiRienzo is adamant NSW Health will not exclude Manning Hospital from future funding because the plan expired in 2017.

“That’s a bit of a myth out there,” Mr DiRienzo said. 

Mr DiRienzo says “there are a whole range of planning documents” used by Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD) to communicate the district’s needs to NSW Health and cites an annual strategic asset plan as being a key document in identifying priorities to government.

“We do that each year, and for last year, that’s what brought us the additional $20 million that has come into this latest stage of development,” Mr DiRienzo said.

“Have I been going out there trying to talk more about the hospital, no, what I’ve been doing is basically using the facts and data that we do have, putting it in our strategic asset plan and allowing NSW Health to advise government about what they see as the priorities.”

Mr DiRienzo describes the clinical services plan as “still relatively current for us.”

“We are not going to embark on a clinical services plan if there isn’t some commitment to doing something with the plan in the future – we as a district just don’t go out there and say, let’s do a clinical services plan,” Mr DiRienzo explained. “It is typically undertaken when there is concern over certain service gaps and you want to actually look at it from a more macro approach.”

A push to update the clinical services plan is part of a public health campaign led by the Manning Great Lakes Community Health Action Group (MGLCHAG). The group has around 1000 members and is proactive in its public and political campaigning on issues relating to health services and infrastructure funding in the region.

At its recent annual general meeting, retiring president Alan Tickle said, “we the committee have got a total lack of confidence in the organisation of HNELHD … show us the plans, show us the scope, show us the cost. If you had a ‘wish list’ that’s achievable - what would it look like?

“Update the clinical services plan because we the committee, we the community, want to come to the next election with a game plan that says we need x-amount of dollars to deliver this much to the community for this benefit, but we are not getting that from HNELHD,” Mr Tickle said.

Mr DiRienzo urges MGLCHAG and the community to look back “five or seven years ago” and contends “the range of services provided at this hospital now far exceed what we had in the past.

“Alongside the financial investment, the district has also looked for staff with a commitment to ongoing training and development to support doctors who are early on in their career and to encourage more medical professionals to live and work in the Taree and Great Lakes region.”

Mr DiRienzo said the emergency department at Manning Hospital “historically relied on locum doctors, rotating medical staff who were still in training, or doctors with a general medical focus.”

“The emergency department now has five full-time equivalent senior medical officers providing emergency medical coverage. The current model is made up of a staff specialist Director of Emergency Medicine, Dr Mustafa Majeed Omar and senior GP visiting medical officers. We have also increased nursing staff levels in the past year as activity has increased. 

“Alongside the investment in the emergency department, we have focused on recruiting senior medical officers to provide leadership and supervision to locum and junior doctors. As well as Dr Omar in the emergency department, the recent employment of Dr Rob Hislop, Director of the Intensive Care Unit, and Dr Nigel Roberts, Director of Obstetrics and Gynaecology has brought senior leadership and stability to the medical services.

“We’ve also welcomed Dr Charles Estibiero as a staff specialist psychiatrist working with the Manning Mental Health Services and Dr Stefan Lang as a staff specialist anaesthetist.”

Mr DiRienzo said the appointment of permanent specialists to the medical workforce allows for the introduction of new clinics and procedures to Manning Hospital, enabling people to access health services close to home.

The Hunter New England Health District is the largest in NSW, spans 25 local government areas and serves more than 920,000, according to its website.

Listing district priorities is a function of the annual strategic asset plan and Mr DiRienzo says “our number one priority is the John Hunter campus.”

“In terms of the Manning Hospital redevelopment to date, that’s been there in our top 10 or so priorities,” he said.

“The reason why John Hunter is the number one priority is that without the campus being upgraded it won’t be able to deliver the role it plays to all of northern NSW and to this community.”

The continuing focus on the expired clinical services plan by the MGLCHAG is founded in the historical significance of a current clinical services plan as a driver of government funding decisions. In 2011 former chairman of the medical staff council for Manning Hospital, Dr Murray Hyde-Page spoke of a “developing crisis” as “Manning Hospital and other health services in the Greater Taree, Great Lakes and Gloucester shires have missed out on their fair share of government funding.” 

It was an expired clinical services plan that was cited as the reason, with the previous plan completed in 1992. Consequently in December 2011, at a meeting which included Mr DiRienzo, representatives from the office of former Member for Lyne, Rob Oakeshott and Member for Myall Lakes, Stephen Bromhead, it was agreed a new clinical services plan needed to be developed. Two years later, HNELHD completed the Lower Mid North Coast Clinical Services Plan 2013-2017 and the Manning Rural Referral Hospital Master Development Plan.

MGLCHAG intends to “engage with both sides of politics leading into the next State election for a firm funding commitment to the (hospital) redevelopment plan” and seeks details from Mr DiRienzo about the district’s “plans, scoping, priorities and costs”.

Mr DiRienzo describes his relationship with the group as “challenging”.

“To be honest that group is looking for a chief executive to give them leverage around whatever they’re doing and that’s not my job. I am not political, so I can’t join in on political discussions.

“My job as a senior public servant is to be apolitical and put evidence on the table, and what I’ve done in attending those (group) meetings is to put the evidence on the table.

“I’ve offered to talk to them more often, but I’ve got to say it’s challenging.”

Did you know the Manning River Times is now offering breaking news alerts and a weekly email newsletter? Keep up-to-date with all the local news: sign up here.