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)
Download Human Services Plan Phase 2 (114KB PDF).
For breifing details see : Information Event – HSP2 Release & HSP1 Evaluation – 1st August 2008