Eye Hospital Will Die, Says Professor
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday September 6, 1991
Sydney Eye Hospital would ultimately die "like a person left quietly hemorrhaging on the side of the road" if the Minister for Health did not make a firm commitment about its future, the hospital's Professor of Ophthalmology warned yesterday.
Professor Frank Billson resigned as chairman of the hospital's forward planning committee yesterday over what he described as an appalling lack of consultation about the future of the State's eye health services.
Two other key members of the committee, Dr Ralph Higgins and Dr Frank Martin, have also resigned in his support.
Professor Billson, who is also director of Sydney's Save Sight Eye Health Institute, accused the Eastern Area Health Board of deliberately concealing from the Sydney Eye Hospital Committee its plans to downgrade Sydney Hospital
The downgrading had clear implications for the eye hospital, which was to be involved in a joint development with Sydney Hospital, he said.
It seemed the committee had been nothing more than a listening post and a waste of valuable time for members.
"I've resigned on principle," Professor Billson said. "It's pointless being part of a committee that's not being consulted. My position has become untenable."
Sydney Eye Hospital has the largest training program for eye doctors in Australia and its trainees rotate through hospitals across the State and in Darwin.
It is a centre for research in eye surgery, and has helped develop the eye departments at Westmead and Liverpool hospitals.
A spokesman for the Minister for Health Services Management, Mr Phillips, said he regretted Professor Billson's decision and hoped he might reconsider.
He was confident Sydney Hospital would remain viable and that facilities would be adequate to enable joint development with the eye hospital.
But Professor Billson said eight successive health ministers had been given conflicting advice from bureaucrats and even the recommendations of independent commissions of inquiry set up by the department had been ignored.
© 1991 Sydney Morning Herald