Under the plans, which include a $32 million upgrade, Modbury Hospital’s emergency department will remain open, but it will have a reduced role.
The hospital’s rehabilitation service will be expanded but some complicated surgeries will be shifted to other hospitals.
The 30 doctors, who are part of the Modbury Hospital Consultant Medical Specialist Group, said they could not agree to the planned changes because of the financial, medical, social and emotional costs to the community.
The letter said the hospital’s reconfiguration would “deliver poorer patient and health system outcomes” and it was “impossible” for the doctors to support the changes.
“It is imperative that we begin working together to develop practical solutions that support the ongoing medical care and safety of our patients,” the letter said.
“This cannot be achieved while we as medical professionals do not feel that our legitimate concerns have been listened to, or that we can endorse the proposed policies with any form of confidence.”
Doctors motivated by snobbery, Snelling says
Health Minister Jack Snelling told State Parliament he had not seen the letter but he had already addressed discontent at Modbury Hospital.
He suggested in Parliament the doctors were motivated by “snobbery” as they were reluctant to visit patients who would end up at a hospital in the northern suburbs.
“The overwhelming majority of patients who currently go to Modbury Hospital and are treated, will still be seen at Modbury Hospital and treated there,” Mr Snelling said.
“I will not countenance doctors whose only opposition is based on not being willing to drive out and look after people at the Lyell McEwin Hospital because of it being in Elizabeth … and because of snobbery.”
The doctors warned that patient transfers to the larger Lyell McEwin Hospital in Elizabeth would cost up to $15 million per year, when most of those patients were currently able to be treated at Modbury.
But Mr Snelling said patient transfers to the Lyell McEwin would be minimal.
A spokesman for the doctors declined to comment further as the doctors were awaiting a response from the Health Minister.
The Opposition’s health spokesman, Stephen Wade, said the doctors’ concerns were not being addressed.
“What the doctors are telling me is they had a duty of care, they had to speak out and the government wasn’t listening,” Mr Wade said.
“Their only recourse was to make that an open call because, after all, it’s their patients they have primary responsibility to.”
Earlier this week, Modbury Hospital’s head of surgery Dr Scott Watkins also said the changes would lengthen waiting times and serve patients more poorly.