Members of Elsie’s Project have welcomed an announcement that a palliative care unit will open at Wyong Hospital in late 2025.
The news was confirmed at a recent public forum hosted at Mingara Recreation Centre by the Lions Club of Wyoming East Gosford.
An Elsie’s Project spokesperson said the purpose of the meeting was to get a timeline on possible completion of the unit and seek assurances the project would go ahead.
“It was very well attended with over 160 people giving of their time to support this very important cause,” the spokesperson said.
“We were honoured to have many MPs available to speak, including Member for Wyong David Harris and Member for Terrigal Adam Crouch as well as CEO of Gosford and Wyong hospitals Scott McLaughlin.
“It was refreshing to receive very positive feedback from the speakers and assurance that Wyong (palliative care) will be opening in late 2025.
“This will be a much larger undertaking than Gosford A5 Unit and will require much more internal structure work.
“We were also invited to attend a Wyong Redevelopment Meeting where an interesting workshop was held with the community and others to ask what would be important in the internal design and outside areas.
“It was very interesting to listen to the ideas put forward to have our unit be state of the art, and yet have the warm, homelike ambience that is needed in a special place.
“(We are) certainly feeling much more confident in our results of the last few weeks, and sincerely thank all the members of our Central Coast community for all their wonderful support as we push forward to achieve this amazing result for the Central Coast.”
Member for Terrigal Adam Crouch congratulated the Elsie’s Retreat project team on hosting the successful public forum.
Crouch said the event demonstrated the public’s continued interest in palliative care and highlighted the importance of continued funding for the Gosford Palliative Care Unit and the future Wyong Palliative Care Unit.
“I want to thank the Elsie’s Retreat Project team in association with the Lions Club of Wyoming-East Gosford Club for a successful palliative care public forum held at Mingara,” he said.
“Their tireless dedication and support have ensured our region has not one, but two dedicated palliative care units on the Central Coast.”
Together with the Shadow Minister for Health Matt Kean, Crouch reinforced the Coalition’s commitment to palliative care services not just on the Central Coast, but across NSW.
“We will continue to call on the Minns Labor Government to provide the necessary funding for our two palliative care units on the Central Coast, as well as the required recurrent funding for staff at these units,” he said.