Right: Springfield Ward councillor Lorraine Wreford was last week concerned about when the next bus would arrive at Casey Hospital.SPRINGFIELD Ward councillor Lorraine Wreford told the Tuesday 24 January Casey council meeting that she was surprised to hear there was no passenger bus service to Casey Hospital.
Other councillors also expressed surprise, particularly at the lack of service between the Berwick railway station and the hospital.
Edrington Ward councillor Mick Morland said failure to provide a bus service was probably an oversight.
But it wasn’t an oversight; it was an insensitive bureaucratic decision.
Narre Warren South MP Dale Wilson recognised this early last year and raised the matter with the Minister for Transport Peter Batchelor.
The minister’s response came on 24 May via his acting chief of staff Jim Stevenson who said: “Given that the hospital is located 700 metres walk from both the nearest bus service and Berwick railway station, it is not unreasonable to expect hospital visitors to walk this distance.”
Mr Stevenson said also that the area had a relatively small catchment zone and that it was located at Kangan Drive between two barriers, the Princes Freeway and the railway line.
He said that because of this it was a difficult area to service from a public transport perspective.
Casey Hospital was built to service the wider southeast area, which in My view is far from a ‘relatively small catchment zone’.
People come to the hospital from Cranbourne, Kooweerup, Lang Lang, and I would venture to say even as far away as Wonthaggi and Phillip Island.
No one can estimate accurately what usage a bus connection from the station to the hospital would receive if it were in place.
Mr Stevenson said, however, that the hospital route was listed for consideration in the long term in conjunction with surrounding institutions such as Chisholm Institute and Monash University.
Despite this, I see the letter as cavalier and insensitive when it compared a hospital situation with, as it says, ‘first priority for public transport is to provide funds to extend services to those areas of greatest need where population growth has been strong’.
A hospital situation should be separate from the general pattern of things.
He said also that hospital patrons have been very limited users of public transport.
That’s an easy statistic to prove in the Berwick region.
Southern Health is responsible for the hospital management and says it would welcome a transport provider to start a bus service.
Not enough, Southern Health also has a responsibility to see that the service is available, even if by using a courtesy van to the station or village bus stops.
People who visit hospitals for whatever reason are usually under some stress either because they are unwell or have a friend or relative who is ill.
Perhaps our community needs to give this a little more thought.
