NSW Health announced on Monday that Cootamundra will not experience any change to its hospital and community pathology collection with the work to be transitioned to pathology services in Young.
According to NSW Health those who currently work at the Cootamundra pathology facility will be offered positions at Young as it will be expanded.
"The Cootamundra community will not experience any change to its hospital and community pathology collection services when laboratory work is transitioned to an expanded laboratory service in Young during the coming months," a NSW Health spokesperson said.
"All staff currently working in the Cootamundra laboratory will be offered roles in Young."
As part of the expansion of the Young facility NSW Health has announced extended opening hours.
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"The expanded Young laboratory will have extended operating hours into the weekends to meet clinical demand and minimise call-backs when staff undertake urgent testing after hours," the spokesperson said.
"Currently the majority of samples taken in Cootamundra require transfer to Sydney or Wagga for testing.
"This expansion of services will allow for the opportunity for more testing to be undertaken within the local region at the Young laboratory."
NSW Health Pathology will be working with Murrumbidgee Local Health District to ensure the transtition of services will have no impact on services at the Cootamundra Health Service, including maternity and surgical services.
"The transition will provide new technology, faster testing and a range of benefits for Cootamundra Health Service's emergency department," the spokesperson said.
According to NSW the benefits will include enhanced point of care testing capabilities at Cootamundra for urgent, on-site testing, including new full blood count technology; increased courier runs between Coota and the expanded Young lab to support same day testing and ensuring emergency blood products and blood transfusion services remain available locally for emergency responses and services like the ED, maternity and surgery.
NSW Health Pathology Chief Execuitive Vanessa Janissen said the decision was made by NSW Health following discussions between the teams at Cootamundra and Young as well as other local stakeholders.
"We have consulted with local clinical teams, hospital and pathology staff, the local health advisory committee and community leaders over several months," Ms Janissen said.
"After careful deliberation, we have determined a regional networked service model and enhanced local point of care testing is the best way forward to ensure the people of Cootamundra have improved access to the highest quality care.
Ms Janissen reiteraited there would be no changes to the care of locals.
"I want to reassure the community the decision will help ensure Cootamundra continues to have access to the most advanced testing and laboratory services," she said.
"Local residents will not experience any change to the care they receive.
"They will still be able to access pathology collection services in Cootamundra and our laboratory staff will provide high quality, accurate and reliable pathology testing at an expanded laboratory service in Young."
Ms Janissen said they are working hard to ensure the current staff are supported throughout the transition.
"We value our dedicated and skilled laboratory staff at Cootamundra and Young and we will work with each staff member regarding their individual circumstances to ensure they are fully supported during this transition over the coming months," she said.
Ahead of the announcement made on Monday the Health Services Union announced pathology staff at the Young Hospital will stage a full day stop work action on February 26 in response to the announced closure of the Coota lab.
"All staff members at the Young Pathology Lab are expected to participate in the industrial action, marking an escalation in the ongoing dispute over pathology services in the Murrumbidgee region," Health Services Union secretary Gerard Hayes said.
"This is not a decision our members have taken lightly, but the closure of Cootamundra's pathology lab will create a devastating ripple effect across our regional healthcare system.
"The disruption from our one day action pales in comparison to the permanent damage this closure will inflict on healthcare delivery in our region."
According to the HSU the Young lab is already operating at full capacity.
"Young's lab already refers complex cases to Wagga," Mr Hayes said.
"Adding Cootamundra's workload to this system will create dangerous delays in diagnostic testing and compromise patient care across the entire region."
At the time of going to print there was no word from the HSU on if the stop-work action would still be going ahead.
"The stop work action will proceed unless the NSW Government agrees to reverse its decision and maintain the Cootamundra Pathology Lab's operations," Mr Hayes said.
