Central Coast Health Investment

Hansard ID: HANSARD-1323879322-107386

Hansard session: Fifty-Seventh Parliament, First Session (57-1)

Central Coast Health Investment

Mr ADAM CROUCH (Terrigal) (12:28:29):

I move:

That this House:

(1)Acknowledges that the Government's record investment in health infrastructure now extends to 90 different projects.

(2)Notes the Government's successful delivery of the $348 million Gosford Hospital redevelopment, which was on time and under budget.

(3)Notes that at least 412 new medical professionals will be employed by Central Coast Local Health District, part of the biggest ever health workforce boost in Australian history.

This motion gives me an opportunity to note the unprecedented investment by the New South Wales Liberal‑Nationals Government in our world-class public health system. As the motion notes, our investment in infrastructure now extends to 90 different projects. Indeed, since 2011more that $10 billion has been invested to build, upgrade and redevelop hospitals and health facilities across the State. A further $10.1 billion has been committed over the next four years to continue current projects and start the upgrading or building of a further 29 hospitals and health facilities. This is all about ensuring everyone in our State has access to world-class care close to home.

As a representative of the Central Coast region in this place, I highlight the health investment in my local area. Major capital projects on the Central Coast include a $200 million redevelopment of Wyong Hospital and a $348 million redevelopment of Gosford Hospital. The upgrade at Gosford includes a state-of-the-art, 11‑storey clinical services building, which we call the tower and which I am led to believe is the tallest building in Gosford. In June last year Premier Berejiklian and Minister Hazzard officially opened that wonderful facility. The refurbishment of existing hospital buildings at Gosford includes a new main entry forecourt, refurbished spaces for allied health, a cancer day unit, an emergency department short‑stay unit and cardiovascular services. All of this work is underway and on track for completion in the coming months.

Ms Liesl Tesch:

Good.

Mr ADAM CROUCH:

Yes, it is good and it has come about because the Government delivers. It is a very good outcome. The technological advancements involved in the 11-storey tower are incredible. For the first time there is a nuclear medicine service, which will greatly improve diagnoses for a range of conditions and will speed up scans for emergency patients. There are a number of innovations right across the redevelopment. When I recently toured the new facilities I was truly in awe of installations like the smart glass panels, which change from clear glass to frosted glass at the touch of a button. As I found out, this is an important hygiene improvement as it removes the need for curtains in rooms. In the intensive care unit the windows are larger than in any other public hospital in New South Wales. The facility has an outdoor courtyard which has a fantastic view over the golf course and has oxygen and gas fittings installed. That means that the sickest patients can enjoy fresh air outdoors. The new tower has been designed with patients in mind and with privacy and comfort front and centre. I am proud of this amazing new hospital, which the Liberal Government has delivered to the Central Coast community.

Other new features of the tower that I will briefly highlight include a special care nursery, which has expanded capacity for newborn cots and pull-out beds for parents and carers. The special care nursery is a massive increase in size on the existing facilities in the old hospital. The facility has an MRI machine to diagnose stroke, cancer, infection and joint abnormalities. Each unit features a single or double room with an ensuite and a patient or relative lounge. There are dedicated staff and patient lifts, which offer greater privacy. That separation is important because it means that patients can be moved from floor to floor in private lifts rather than in public lifts. That gives them a greater level of privacy when they need it most.

At Wyong Hospital the $200 million redevelopment will deliver a range of improved and expanded infrastructure and services to the growing Wyong community and surrounding areas. I know the member for Wyong is very excited about the redevelopment of that hospital. As I have said many times before, between 2016 and 2036, 74,500 more people will call the Central Coast home. Many of these new residents will be centred around the northern end of the region. That is why the redevelopment of Wyong Hospital is a priority for this Government.

The first stage of works was the car park upgrade, which commenced in 2018. The main works, which will begin in the coming months, include an emergency department, increased maternity intensive care services, paediatric services, inpatient beds, an additional operating theatre and rehabilitation and ambulatory services. It should be noted that both Gosford and Wyong hospitals work together to deliver great services. The two hospitals boost the availability of facilities and support each other. That is why there has been a staggered development across the two hospitals. The two hospitals provide mutual services during the redevelopments, thereby providing minimal inconvenience to patients.

Central Coast Express Advocate

I highlight the great work of the staff and the CEO, Dr Andrew Montague. The hospital redevelopment at Gosford has been an almost seamless exercise on a difficult site, yet patient care has remained at the forefront of the project. I read with great delight in this morning's edition of the that the expansion plan for Wyong Hospital has been given planning approval. I was surprised to read that this is the first major expansion of Wyong Hospital since the early 2000s. The growing population has made this expansion necessary and our strong budget has made it possible. Construction of the building is expected to be done in a single stage, with work starting soon and expected to conclude by 2022. Paragraph (3) of my motion states:

(3)Notes that at least 412 new medical professionals will be employed by the Central Coast Local Health District, part of the biggest ever health workforce boost in Australian history.

As members know, my wife is a nurse who works at the Central Coast Cancer Centre. Obviously I am biased and like to talk about the great work performed by our health professionals. I bring to the House's attention that on 17 February 2019 Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Deputy Premier John Barilaro and the Minister for Health and Medical Research, Brad Hazzard, announced the largest workforce boost in the history of Australian health care, with 8,300 people to be added to the health workforce in New South Wales, including 5,000 nurses and midwives. I stress that this is only possible because of the work of the New South Wales Government over the past eight years to deliver a strong budget and an even stronger economy.

Mr DAVID HARRIS (Wyong) (12:35:52):

I make a contribution to the debate on the motion of the member for Terrigal. The member for The Entrance, the member for Gosford and I acknowledge that upgrades are needed to our facilities on the Central Coast. However, I move:

That the motion be amended by omitting all words after "House", with a view to adding:

"Recognises that population growth on the Central Coast necessitates urgent additional health resources."

I will speak specifically about Wyong Hospital and the member for Gosford will speak about her electorate. In 2015 the Government made a commitment of $200 million to upgrade Wyong Hospital. It is now 2019, which means that $200 million is not worth as much as it was in 2015. Dr Andrew Montague and his team have been trying desperately to fit the services that were promised into the funding envelope. That has been extremely difficult to achieve and unfortunately a number of compromises have had to be made. I talked to staff in radiography. That unit currently has 10 beds. After the redevelopment the brand‑new unit will have only eight beds. One has to ask: If there is a $200 million upgrade, why are the number of beds reduced? I have been told that workflow and other issues in the emergency department are still being sorted out but there are significant issues about the size of the unit and access to the site.

At the last election, with all the money that was being splashed around all over the State, it was hoped that Wyong Hospital would be recognised and provided with additional funding to ensure that the upgrade that was committed to in 2015 could actually be delivered. The original plans included a multistorey car park. The hospital will now get an at‑grade car park, not a multistorey car park. My colleagues will talk more about this in their contributions. It seems that parking charges will be introduced at Wyong Hospital. Currently it is free. On the north of the coast, we have labelled these charges a "sick tax". Public transport services in the area are poor, yet patients and staff will have to pay for the right to park at their hospital, which they attend because they are not well. The people up north, whilst encouraged about an expansion of the hospital, are not necessarily happy little campers because of what they are finding out about the redevelopment.

Mr Mark Coure:

You had 16 years of government and what did you do? You did nothing.

Mr DAVID HARRIS:

We rebuilt the hospital, which was completed in 2006. We totally rebuilt the hospital. That was when I was the local member.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr Lee Evans):

Order! The member for Wyong will address his comments through the Chair.

Mr DAVID HARRIS:

It is a myth that nothing was ever done. Between 2003 and 2006 Wyong Hospital was totally rebuilt, with a brand-new car park out the front, for the population that lived there at the time. Since then, the population has increased and the hospital needs another major upgrade.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr Lee Evans):

Order! The member for Oatley will come to order.

Mr DAVID HARRIS:

All this Government does is keep up with population growth. The Government members pat themselves on the back but at the end of the day Labor built the hospital to match the size of the population. That is what those opposite are doing now and nothing more. When the upgrade was first raised, Wyong Hospital needed around $230 million to $280 million. The commitment came at the 2015 election, after Labor originally made the commitment. I am happy to say that I lobby and fight hard for my area. Those opposite appeared on a Sunday afternoon. I have a photo of them on the grassy knoll out near the emergency sign at Wyong. They rushed out as quickly as they could and matched our commitment.

Those opposite will not acknowledge it but originally they did not have the money to pay for the upgrade. So they came up with a scheme to privatise the operation of the hospital. They would pay for it by getting someone else to do it. When they made the original commitment, they had no intention of actually funding it themselves. When the community fought back hard, with massive rallies, petitions, candlelight vigils and all sorts of things, the Government decided it could not privatise and scrambled madly to find the money. What we now see at Wyong is the cut‑price budget option rather than the option that we really need. We need about another $30 million to $80 million to build a facility of the size that is needed at Wyong just to keep up with the population growth. That is why I moved an amendment to the motion.

The amendment to the motion asks for urgent additional health resources to keep up with the population growth on the Central Coast. In my area there are 4,500 new houses and around 9,000 to 10,000 new residents. The residents who will live in the 2,000 houses that are going in at Wyee will use Wyong Hospital. With all these people, our nurses, whom we met with the other day, are stretched to the limit and are overworked. The staff cannot keep up with the population demand. The Government should focus on providing the resources, not on moving motions, patting themselves on the back and saying, "Aren't we good little fellows?" The Government has to commit the money and provide the facilities that it committed to in 2015. I am pleased the Government matched Labor's commitment but it really had no choice. However, there was a massive 9.3 per cent swing to me after it made its announcement. I had a further swing to me at the last election. What did I campaign on? I campaigned on making Wyong Hospital better.

Mr MARK COURE (Oatley) (12:43:18):

When it comes to health infrastructure, this is a government that delivers. Those on the other side do not. For 16 years they neglected St George Hospital, they neglected hospitals on the Central Coast and they neglected hospitals in western Sydney.

Mr David Harris:

There are four hospitals on the Central Coast.

Mr MARK COURE:

You guys neglected every single one of them. They neglected Liverpool Hospital and Bankstown Hospital. Labor treated St George Hospital, in my electorate, like it was some sort of Bermuda Triangle when it came to health infrastructure. In 16 years those opposite failed to deliver one new building or one upgrade at St George Hospital. St George Hospital was upgraded under the Askin Liberal Government, under the Greiner Liberal Government and under the O'Farrell, Baird and Berejiklian Liberal governments. In fact, when it comes to St George Hospital, Labor is no friend.

Our area has a good hospital now. We might not have a good football team but there is always next year. When we first came to government in 2011 we reopened the hydrotherapy pool, which had been closed by those opposite. Since 2011 this Government has built, delivered and funded a new emergency department at St George Hospital at a cost of $41 million. In addition, we delivered stage two of the redevelopment with a seven‑storey acute services building, which now includes a new intensive care department, new operating theatres, more inpatient beds, cardiac laboratories, a sterilising department, a new helipad plus additional parking. Stage three of the redevelopment of St George Hospital, which we announced during the election, takes this Government's total investment since its election in 2011 to over $700 million. Not in 16 years did Labor deliver a single upgrade to St George Hospital. Labor forgot and neglected St George Hospital.

In this year alone, since the Berejiklian Government's re-election, we are seeing more nurses, with $2.8 billion allocated to recruit 8,300 frontline health staff over four years. That means 5,000 more nurses and midwives, including mental health palliative care nurses. We are also seeing over 1,000 medical staff and 880 allied health pharmacists, social workers and occupational therapists. I note that 45 per cent of these new staff will be for regional New South Wales. This week I visited the new birthing unit at St George Hospital. This brand‑new birthing and delivery suite, which will begin operation later this year, is double the size of the existing unit, which was built under the Greiner and Fahey governments. For 16 years those opposite did not even upgrade the birthing unit. This Government is getting on with the job of rebuilding St George Hospital as well as our many other hospitals across the State.

Ms LIESL TESCH (Gosford) (12:47:30):

I thank the member for Terrigal for bringing the issue of Central Coast health investment to the Parliament. I speak in support of the amendment of the member for Wyong to scrap the motion and insert instead that the population growth of the Central Coast urgently necessitates additional health care. This Liberal Government is not listening to the great people of the coast. We might have a flashy new hospital and the promise of new staff but the reality for the people of the coast is that it is not much different to what it was before. The percentage of patients waiting more than four hours for emergency service treatment is 43 per cent at Gosford and 35 per cent at Wyong, and these figures are climbing. The State average is 25 per cent.

Waiting times are climbing and we are seeing more acute admissions, with 510 a year. Worryingly, there is a massive increase in the number of people attending emergency departments who should not even be at hospital. They should be seeing their GP or allied health care professional but they cannot get in the door because the Liberals have made it more and more expensive and harder and harder to access this simple care, which is so important to the people of the Central Coast. It is an embarrassing joke that the Liberal Government has not updated the Admitted Patient Survey since January 2017. Is that customer service? What else is the Government hiding? One thing the Government cannot ignore is the ambulance block that is occurring daily at our hospitals, with Gosford Hospital looking more like an ambulance depot every single day. Only 50 per cent of our ambulances are able to arrive within 15 minutes of the most urgent of emergency call-outs. That statistic is down nearly 10 per cent in only one year.

Not only are ambulances locked in at hospitals instead of being out on the road but call‑out numbers across the board are up, with 591 additional call‑outs in the last year and a 58 per cent increase in non‑urgent calls. Is that fair for our ambulance officers and hospital staff? Let us talk about access to health across our whole region and the Federal Government's lack of delivery to our community, which adds so much more pressure to our State budgets. I commend those trying to work under‑budget who have been smashed by this cutback as well. Gosford Hospital is already way over budget and the cut in costs is not helping health outcomes and health access for people on the Central Coast.

Our nurses are calling for change. They are very concerned about understaffing and have been working short‑staffed for far too long. Just two years ago this was not heard of. Absent staff are not being replaced at Gosford Hospital and wards are working three staff short, with nurses not taking breaks for their whole roster. This is putting patients at risk. Stress, sick leave and injuries are becoming endemic and normal. That is not good enough. We need greater investment now. It is not good enough for patients or for staff, who came into this profession to serve the community and do a good job.

Add to this the cost of the new parking. A petition containing 10,000 signatures of people across the Central Coast stating that the delivery of health services by this Liberal Government will be debated in Parliament this afternoon. Parking fees have gone from $1.20 an hour to $6.70 an hour for people visiting their loved ones on the Central Coast. This is a 450 per cent increase in cost to our visitors. Our nurses have taken a $1,200 a year pay cut to work at their own workplace. This Liberal Government needs to learn to listen to people who live on the Central Coast, listen to those who work there, listen to those who are trying to access the emergency department, listen to our ambulance officers, listen to people who are visiting their loved ones in hospital and listen to people outside our hospital system who try to find a doctor or allied health professional to visit in our local community.

Mrs WENDY TUCKERMAN (Goulburn) (12:51:16):

I thank the member for Terrigal for putting forward this motion as it allows me to speak about some of the wonderful investment that is taking place in my electorate. It is clearly evident that these types of investments in health are welcome in my electorate. My electorate alone has an $8 million redevelopment currently underway at Yass District Hospital, $2.5 million for an upgrade to Crookwell District Hospital and new ambulance stations in Yass and Goulburn, which are underway. The major works project would have to be the $150 million development at Goulburn Base Hospital. The Government's commitment to redevelop Goulburn Base Hospital will ensure world‑class facilities are delivered to the Goulburn community and will remain a critical component of the local health network.

The New South Wales Government has committed more than $14.4 billion in infrastructure spending in health over the forward capital program. With over 90 projects underway—from billion‑dollar precinct redevelopments to new hospitals, community health facilities and ambulance stations—Health Infrastructure NSW is working hard to deliver this enormous program of works, which includes the many projects in my electorate. Consultation—yes, we are listening—on the Goulburn Base Hospital redevelopment project has been extensive, with over 2,000 interactions with community, consumer and industry representatives across the district to ensure the Goulburn region continues to receive excellent care into the future.

As the New South Wales Liberal-Nationals Government knows, building hospital infrastructure is much more than construction of a building. Both hospital staff and the local community have played a key role in the redevelopment. The feedback they have provided has been very important in helping ensure the new health facilities meet the community's needs both now and well into the future. The enabling works for the project to prepare the site for the new clinical services building have been completed. These works included the construction, demolition and relocation of a number of buildings and services that were in the existing footprint of the new acute building. The site is now covered in Geofabric and that will remain onsite as an erosion and dust mitigation measure while documentation and the building facade are being redesigned and finalised. The redesign of the building facade is a result of community feedback and consultation—proof of a government that listens and works with its communities to achieve best outcomes.

The project remains on track for main works to commence in the coming months and the entire project will be completed at the end of 2021. An additional $30 million was allocated to Goulburn Base Hospital in the 2019‑20 budget. The full $150 million redevelopment is expected to be complete in 2021 and will include a new four‑storey clinical services building with a new main entry and hospital reception; a new emergency department; a new medical imaging department; a new intensive care unit; new operating theatres, day surgery and recovery areas; new medical, surgical, paediatric, rehabilitation and geriatric inpatient units with specific designated palliative care beds; a new maternity unit and birthing suite; as well as ambulatory paediatric and antenatal clinics. The additional funding will improve the ambulatory care services at Goulburn Base Hospital. These projects are just a small part of the New South Wales Government's commitment to keeping people healthy and out of hospital, providing world‑class clinical services with timely access and services. These investments prove that people do not have to live in a big city in order to receive high‑quality health care under a Liberal‑Nationals Government.

Mr DAVID MEHAN (The Entrance) (12:55:30):

I welcome the motion from the member for Terrigal about Central Coast health and support the amendment moved by my colleague the member for Wyong. The motion allows me to talk about health care and how health care should be organised on the Central Coast. It is worth reminding the House and people on the Central Coast that only one side of this place voted against privatisation of health on the Central Coast. It was not the member for Terrigal; he was silent when the Government moved to privatise Wyong Hospital. Mark my words, privatisation of one part of Central Coast health services would have been privatisation of the entire Central Coast health services. It would have been the beginning of the end for public health on the Central Coast. The member for Terrigal was silent on that point and that is his legacy. It is one thing to build buildings. To deliver for all members of the community one must be committed to the delivery of public health. The member for Terrigal is on the record as not opposing privatisation on the Central Coast.

I acknowledge that building is occurring on the Central Coast but the new building must be staffed. Everybody makes claims in this place but I can talk to the lived reality of my constituents and what I see on the Central Coast. In the last couple of weeks my colleagues and I have been invited to rallies held by the Nurses Federation and the Health Services Union [HSU] on the Central Coast in relation to hospital security and insufficient staffing. We talk about extra staff on the Central Coast but those extra staff do not seem to be getting to the frontline rosters, which are necessary to be filled to satisfy the health needs of the community. Why are staff rallying in demand of extra staffing and extra places being filled on the roster? Why are staff up in arms if new staff are being appointed to the Central Coast? It does not make sense. People can see it in front of their faces on the Central Coast. Their lived reality is that the new building does not have enough staff.

Members of the Ambulance Division of the HSU said on ABC radio in the last couple of weeks that there was bed block because of staffing issues. They had the new building but it was not being adequately operated. The Government is not committed to the proper delivery of public health. It is pretty good with the figures but it is not very good with delivering because it is not committed to the concept of public health and the delivery of public health for all. The public record, the lived experience, on the Central Coast shows that only Labor members want to keep healthcare delivery in public hands on the Central Coast. Government members will always seek to drag it down and hand it over to the private sector. I support the amendment moved by my colleague. I welcome the opportunity afforded by the member for Terrigal to speak about the reality of health care on the Central Coast and the threat to Central Coast health posed by the member for Terrigal and his privatisation obsession.

Ms YASMIN CATLEY (Swansea) (12:59:22):

By leave: I join other members who represent Central Coast electorates, being the member for Gosford, the member for Wyong and the member for The Entrance, in acknowledging the motion moved by the member for Terrigal. This morning as I watched a debate from my office I was quite intrigued that Government members would have the audacity to crow in this House about their success in health and health infrastructure in this State. When I read the motion moved by the member for Terrigal I was very surprised that he had the audacity to crow specifically about health resources on the Central Coast. As my Labor colleagues quite rightly have pointed out time and again this morning, the Central Coast's health facilities are in dire need of improvement.

We are not making this up. Messages are coming directly to us from the nursing staff and patients. They of course tell us how fantastic the staff are in the facilities on the Central Coast but they also say how staff are under the pump and under-resourced, which unfortunately impedes them in doing the best job they can. Health facilities staff are proud health professionals who entered the medical profession to assist and help people, yet on the Central Coast they cannot do their job to the height of their professional capacity, all because of a lack of resources provided by this Government. I regard the motion as absolute hypocrisy. Remember that only a few years ago the Government wanted to privatise hospitals on the Central Coast and in other parts of the State.

Mrs Wendy Tuckerman:

Shame!

Ms YASMIN CATLEY:

Goulburn was on the list too. Thank goodness you came along. We expect you to be definitely supporting Labor's model of public hospitals and not supporting a privatised model.

Mrs Wendy Tuckerman:

Hear, hear!

Ms YASMIN CATLEY:

I will hold the member for Goulburn to that. Labor also will hold the member for Terrigal to rejecting privatised hospitals, if we can ever get him to agree that public hospitals are fantastic. I listened to the member for Goulburn and I am pleased that her electorate is receiving healthcare resources, but shiny buildings do not provide healthcare services. It is what is inside hospitals that provides those services. We can take the Northern Beaches Hospital as an example of that. It is a disaster and a failure of the privatised hospital model that operates in New South Wales. The member for Goulburn should not for one moment think that when the Government tells her it will build something it means she will get good facilities, because we know that the Government's report card has a big F for failure in that area right here in Sydney on the northern beaches. What a joke that is.

I absolutely agree with the amendment moved by the member for Wyong and suggest that the Government consider supporting it. It is obvious that the population growth on the Central Coast requires services to support that growth. At the moment the Central Coast does not have that in any way, shape or form. The Government should ensure that it is providing a level of funding that will support population growth on the Central Coast particularly. The member for Wyong knows that firsthand. He sees the absence of money—we all do but it is particularly so in the burgeoning suburbs of Warnervale and the like—for roads, hospitals and schools. The list goes on. For Government members to crow about the Government's record investment in health on the Central Coast is hypocrisy at its highest. I do not support the motion but I do support the amendment moved by the member for Wyong.

Mr ADAM CROUCH (Terrigal) (13:03:24):

In reply: This morning some interesting contributions have been made to the debate on the motion. I acknowledge the excellent and valuable earlier contributions from the member for Goulburn and the member for Oatley. Members of the Labor Opposition made interesting contributions and referred to hospital privatisation and closures. I was surprised by what short memories they have. It was Labor that was closing Woy Woy Hospital.

Mr David Mehan:

No, not true.

Mr ADAM CROUCH:

Here we go. Labor members hate it when they get caught out by the truth.

Mr David Mehan:

It was just the rehab.

Mr ADAM CROUCH:

What about the 400 jobs they cut? It was Woy Woy Hospital that those guys were closing. They hate it when they get caught out by the truth. I was interested to hear the member for Swansea slagging off the services at the Northern Beaches Hospital. The member for Manly has just come into the Chamber and told me what a great hospital it is. His son was recently born there. He meets with the staff. It is a fantastic hospital.

Ms Yasmin Catley:

He had no choice. You closed the rest of them.

Mr ADAM CROUCH:

Here we go again. Here is Labor slagging off the hardworking staff at the Northern Beaches Hospital. What is really clear is that this Government is delivering record infrastructure. But not only is it delivering record infrastructure, there is record investment in additional nurses, doctors and support staff. In the Central Coast Local Area Health District this Government has appointed an additional 51 doctors and 256 more nurses and midwives. That is worth repeating for the benefit of Labor Opposition members, just in case they missed it: 256 more nurses and midwives at Central Coast hospitals. Moreover, the Government has provided 43 more allied health staff and 62 more hospital support workers.

While Labor was shutting down beds and closing hospitals, this Government has turned around the health system in New South Wales by upgrading almost every hospital across the State to world-class standards. The Government appointed an additional 5,000 nurses. In the lead-up to the State election, Labor members put up Facebook posts extolling the virtues of nurse-to-patient ratios. But the very day this Government announced the additional 5,000 nurses, those Facebook posts magically disappeared. What a surprise!

Ms Yasmin Catley:

Why don't you talk about the Central Coast?

Mr ADAM CROUCH:

If the member for Swansea had been listening, I mentioned the additional 5,000 nurses, among which were 256 more nurses and midwives for the Central Coast. The figures are pretty clear. Obviously the member for Swansea was not paying attention, as usual. The people of the Central Coast are receiving the benefit of the Government's record investment in health for every hospital on the Central Coast. Labor would be shutting Woy Woy Hospital, closing beds and leaving doctors and nurses out in the cold.

Mrs Shelley Hancock:

That's what they do.

Mr ADAM CROUCH:

I note the presence in the House of the Minister for Local Government. I understand the hospital in her electorate is also being upgraded. The Government is delivering this wonderful level of service because it can run a budget. In addition to the brand-new upgraded hospitals, the 5,000 additional nurses and—just once more for the benefit of the member for Swansea—the 256 more nurses and midwives on the Central Coast, this Government has funded 51 more doctors, 43 more allied health staff and 62 more hospital support workers for the Central Coast alone. These are record investments and record numbers of staff that have been provided to achieve the best health care possible across the Central Coast. As someone whose wife is a nurse, I get to talk every day about the great services that the Government is delivering at those hospitals. Obviously Labor treats them with contempt, as usual. Labor members say one thing but do another.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr Lee Evans):

I call the member for Swansea to order for the first time.

Mr ADAM CROUCH:

The people of the Central Coast can see it every day. I am so proud to be part of a government that has made a record multibillion-dollar investment in health infrastructure and staff across the Central Coast.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr Lee Evans):

I call the member for Oatley to order for the first time. I call the member for Oatley to order for the second time. He will be on three calls to order if he continues to interject. The question is that the amendment be agreed to.

The House divided.

Ayes44

Noes47

Majority3

Amendment negatived.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr Lee Evans):

The question is that the motion as moved by the member for Terrigal be agreed to.

Motion agreed to.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr Lee Evans):

I shall now leave the chair. The House will resume at 2.15 p.m.