Uncertainty over funding shortfall casts further doubt on promised radiation oncology unit in Geraldton

Fears are growing that a promised radiation oncology service for Geraldton will not happen due to a funding shortfall and uncertainty over who will stump up the extra money needed. WA Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson told Parliament recently that “the project will not proceed until additional funding is sourced”. The Federal Government announced $9 million for the service before the 2019 election, but the cost of the project has now jumped to $19 million. A spokesperson for Ms Sanderson said the former health minister had twice written to the former federal government requesting they honour their commitment to fund the service in full and provide the $10m shortfall. “We will continue to advocate for this funding,” she said, but did not answer the question of whether she had contacted the new Federal Labor Government about the issue. Shadow minister for regional health Martin Aldridge said the stalemate was a blow for Geraldton and Mid West cancer patients and their families who had been waiting years to access local radiotherapy. He said it was disappointing that a State Government with a $5.7 billion surplus was refusing to match Federal funding for the potentially life-saving project. “The budget estimates process last month revealed the State Government has not set aside a single cent in funding to deliver this important health service,” he said. “If the State Labor Government simply matched this Federal contribution, it would cover 90 per cent of the funding shortfall and give a strong indication that they supported bringing radiotherapy services to the Mid West. “This project would mean the world to families who regularly travel long distances to Perth for treatment and ease the burden that goes along with that – including the cost of accommodation, loss of work and being unable to return home following treatment.” This comes at a time when Geraldton Health Campus’ redevelopment has been delayed and its budget has blown out from $43m in 2017 to a current estimate of more than $120m. Ms Sanderson’s spokesperson said this project was another example of a “haphazard Liberal-National election commitment that does not meet the needs of WA”. “The Federal Liberal-National coalition promised this project to the people of the Mid-West and Gascoyne, yet has failed to properly fund or cost it,” they said. They confirmed the oncology centre was not part of the $123m redevelopment of the Geraldton hospital at this stage, but the State Government would “continue to consider its future inclusion in the project”. Ms Sanderson has told Parliament: “The radiotherapy unit is being scoped as part of the stage two of WACHS’ major redevelopment of Geraldton Health Campus to ensure that the facility, along with the necessary supporting infrastructure, equipment and staffing, is fully costed to provide safe and sustainable radiotherapy services for Mid West residents, into the future.” A spokesperson for the Federal Department of Health and Aged Care said “we will continue to work with the Western Australian Government to ensure that this critical project is delivered”. They said the construction of a new radiation oncology facility in Geraldton was part of the Commonwealth’s $25.1m investment to support the implementation of the WA Country Health Service’s cancer strategy. In a funding commitment outlined in a project agreement document, signed by former Federal and WA health ministers Greg Hunt and Roger Cook in May 2020, it outlines a $6.3m payment for the State Government to provide a project definition plan by July next year, and a design and development report and tender award details by July 2024.