Plains Producer $1.50
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
STAR OF THE NORTH
‘No waiting at hospital’ COUNTRY Health SA (CHSA) has denied there are any issues with surgery numbers at Balaklava Hospital, as reported in the Plains Producer last week. Yorke and Lower North Health Services director, Jackie Hart, said all public sector elective surgeries at Balaklava Hospital were performed within the appropriate waiting times for their category. Allegations over sterilised equipment and waiting lists were raised in a Letter to the Editor in the October 10 edition of the Plains Producer, with local GP, Dr Tom Lemon, also suggesting there were long waiting
Country Health SA:
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Surgical services at Balaklava Hospital are continuing as normal since equipment sterilisation was transferred to Clare in August
lists and limitations with sterilised equipment. Due to our edition deadline, a response from CHSA, although provided, was not able to be printed last week. Expanded comments below were emailed on Monday through a CHSA press release. The CHSA information said
latest statistics from Balaklava Hospital showed all public elective surgery procedures had been performed within the recommended time frames. “There are three clinical categories used nationally for classifying patients referred for surgery – Category One: admission within 30
days, Category Two: admission within 90 days, and Non Urgent: admission within 365 days,” the statement said. Ms Hart, said there were no public patients overdue in any of these categories. “Balaklava Hospital has two visiting surgeons, one on a monthly
basis and one on a bi-monthly basis to perform orthopaedic and plastic surgery procedures,” Ms Hart said. “All of these public procedures are completed within the clinically determined times for surgery after their consultant’s approval. “Surgical services at Balaklava Hospital are continuing as normal since equipment sterilisation was transferred to Clare in August. “There has been no reduction to the number of surgical lists or the number of surgical procedures within each list. n Continued Page 2
KEEP THE KIDS SAFE Riverton mum calls for school crossing Les Pearson reports:
CLARE and Gilbert Valleys Council faces an interesting dilemma in coming weeks, deciding on whether it installs a school crossing on Paul street at Riverton Primary School. A petition submitted to council last month by local parent, Rachael Eastwood, whose children attend the school, raised the issue. It attracted 111 supporting signatures from nearby residents. Students regularly cross the street to access the school oval. Mrs Eastwood believed her support drew excellent community support in a short amount of time. “I could have got more signatures but I did it fairly quickly,” she said.
NOT quite Abbey Road from the Beatles album, but Paul Street needs some zebra stripes! Two of the four children pictured have had narrow escapes with motor vehicles crossing this road to play at the oval. Pictured from left Luan Kafexholli, 9, Connor Sanderson, 8, Lazarr Eastwood, 8, and Teegan Snook.
PICTURE: Nan Berrett
Mrs Eastwood said funding issues shouldn’t come into it. “This is to do with the safety of our children,” she said. “I just don’t want to see any child get hit by a car.” Riverton Primary School principal, Max McLaren, confirmed there was a marked school zone at either end but there was no current crossing provision on the street, not even
an easement to allow wheelchair access. He said the issue had been raised with CGVC in recent years. “I think they said there was no need for it. That’s the way it went last time we went down that path,” he said. Mr McLaren, who was unaware of the petition, said the traffic flow on the street was low.
“You could sit out there for hours and not see a car go past sometimes,” he said. Surprisingly, the responsibility of installing a crossing falls solely with council. CGVC chief executive officer, Roy Blight, said council would need to consider the implications on the works budget, as factoring the crossing work in
ARE YOU READY FOR HARVEST?
would mean another project missed out somewhere else in the district. Already strapped for cash following the floods of late 2010 and facing a huge works roster with harvest approaching, it will be a tough decision for council to make. “The big issue is funding, as we don’t have unlimited resources,” Mr Blight said.
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