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53.3m for hospitals Minister for Health visits with news of hundreds of bed upgrades • MELISSAH COMBER
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unter district hospitals will receive 859 new electric beds as part of a $3.3 million replacement program. State Minister for Health, lillian Skinner visited lohn Hunter Hospital last week with local MPs to make the announcement, which will see the imported beds rolled out over the next two months. The rollout includes several maternity and bariatric beds, with the individual beds in the entire range costing between $1500 and $27,000. The beds have user-friendly hand controls, can be lowered close to ground level and also have more comfortable mattresses. lohn Hunter Hospital will receive 293 of these beds, with the first arriving last week. Belmont District Hospital will receive eight, Cessnock District Hospital seven and Maitland Hospital five. The others will be spread throughout the district, which extends south to Morisset and north to Tenterfield. This will eventually see every manual bed in the district replaced. Hunter New England Health Chief Executive, Michael DiRienzo said that the beds will improve safety for staff and patients. "This is going to make an enormous difference for our nursing staff and of course for our patients," Mr DiRienzo said. Story continues on » p. 5
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NRLseason 2014 Two on the trot for Knights p.3S
Minister for Health, Jillian Skinner looks at the new bed for patient Maureen Johnston
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