Green Light for New Community Health Facility & Human Service Plan 2 Released

GREEN LIGHT FOR NEW COMMUNITY HEALTH FACILITY

Plans for a $10 million community health facility on the former Redfern Courthouse and Police Station site have been given the green light, Planning Minister Frank Sartor announced today (11 July 2008) ..

Mr Sartor said the new facility proposed by NSW Health would provide both on-site and out­reach services.

“This project is part of the ongoing renewal of the Redfern-Waterloo area and will deliver significant benefits to the local community,” Mr Sartor said.

“It will create up to 94 full-time jobs in the area and lead to the adaptive re-use of the Redfern Courthouse heritage building, as well as delivering important health services.”

Minister for Health Reba Meagher said construction would soon commence on the new community health building.

“This facility will deliver high-quality community health services, including community nursing, allied health, mental health and drug health services for the residents of the Redfern community in an easily-accessible building,” Ms Meagher said.

Mr Sartor said the facility had been funded through the sale of the former Rachel Forster Hospital site, which was negotiated by the Redfern-Waterloo Authority earlier this year.

“Through projects such as this we are beginning to see the benefits of the Human Services Plan, currently being developed by the Redfern Waterloo Authority,” he said.

The Minister said the next phase of the Human Services Plan, aiming to provide improved services for older people, people with disabilities, migrant communities and homeless people in the area has been approved by the Iemma Government.

The Redfern-Waterloo Authority has released this second phase, following a series of stakeholder workshops and calls for public comment.

Mr Sartor said key recommendations of the plan include a new taskforce to improve the delivery of dementia services, increased cultural awareness training for service providers and encouraging more elderly Aboriginals to help design health programs.

“This plan aims to better coordinate services to ensure the needs of the community are being met,” Mr Sartor said.

“Over the next decade the Government will work to implement this second phase of the Human Services Plan, along with Phase One – which deals with services for children and families, Aboriginal people and young people.

“Our aim is to ensure that Redfern-Waterloo is home to a strong, well-coordinated network of services that are able to adapt to the changing needs of the local community.

“To achieve this, the Authority will work closely with the Department of Ageing and Home Care, NSW Health, the Department of Community Services, Housing NSW and other government and non-government organisation in the area.”

Member for Heffron Kristina Keneally welcomed the new plan.

“It is vital we ensure assistance is getting to the people who need it and to do that we need a coordinated approach,” Ms Keneally said.

“We know that 38 per cent of Redfern residents and 34 per cent of Waterloo residents were born overseas with the most common languages spoken in the area – other than English – being Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Spanish and Greek.

“The Human Services Plan Phase Two contains a number of actions specifically designed to address challenges faced by these communities, including ensuring that services are delivered in a culturally appropriate way.”

State Plan Priority F1: Improved health and education outcomes for Aboriginal people
State Plan Priority F4: Embedding the principle of early intervention into Government Service delivery in NSW
State Plan Priority S1: Improved access to quality healthcare
State Plan Priority S2: Improved survival rates and quality of life for people with potentially fatal or chronic illness 

Source: Media Release Friday 11 2008 Click here (pdf~103kb)

For breifing details see : Information Event - HSP2 Release & HSP1 Evaluation - 1st August 2008