The fight for a new hospital in Cowra continues for Steph Cooke

Ms Cooke said an upgrade of the current Emergency Department and a new hospital was, “the number one health infrastructure project requirement for the whole of the Cootamundra electorate”. 

“There is nothing more pressing across my whole electorate then to get this facility sorted out,” she said.

“So I would like to think in the short term we can secure the funding we need around the Emergency Department and in the long term we can commence planing and the significant investment of somewhere between $70 and $90 million for an upgraded or brand new hospital for Cowra and the surrounding districts.

Cowra’s Mayor, Bill West, said Ms Cooke’s visit showed the ongoing commitment she had to the region.

“There is a need for a new hospital, they don’t happen overnight but the planning needs to start now, not tomorrow or next week,” he said.

“We are a community that is 13,000 people and a district hospital servicing a much bigger catchment, it’s aging and it needs to be replaced.

“I think that it’s very important that we continue to lobby, advocate and to support our local member and that’s what we’ll do with all the energy that we have to get the state government convinced that there is a desperate need out here to plan a new hospital,” he said.

For her part, Ms Williams said she could guarantee to talk to the minister during the week to continue the progress started by Steph Cooke.

“For me, it is really critical to have a look at this space, and hear firsthand about the challenges faced,” she said.

“It goes without saying that there are some serious physical challenges with that space in the Emergency Department and Steph has been very clear that she sees it as one of the highest priorities in health infrastructure in her electorate.

“I know very well that she will continue to go in to bat to get this work done, so I’m really pleased that she invited me here today,” she said.