Mayors, politicians back petition to split enormous Hunter New England Health (HNEH) region

On Tuesday, several mayors stood alongside Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall, as well as nurses and midwives, to sign the petition started by New England Visions 2030.

The MP revealed Armidale Hospital had been left without a doctor for almost 24 hours between Monday and Tuesday, while he said there was also no security staff and no ward clerk on duty in that time.

The Armidale think-tank's petition calls on the Legislative Assembly to reinstate the New England Area Health Service, directly employ doctors in emergency departments in the region, and dramatically increase the number of nurses.

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Mr Marshall said the petition was the result of sheer frustration as concerns raised by nursing staff, clinicians and community advocates had been ignored.

On a regular basis, he said, patients were bypassing under-resourced hospitals in Inverell and Glen Innes and being sent to Armidale, which put a strain on that facility.

"If we can get 10,000 signatures or more, it will not only trigger a debate in parliament, it will demonstrate to government this isn't just a whinging politician, a few parachocial mayors and the union causing trouble.

"This is actually a whole region united, saying 'we've had a gutful and we're sick to the back teeth of being treated like second-class citizens, we're entitled to better and we're not going to stop until we get better."

Mayors Sam Coupland from Armidale, Robert Bell from Uralla, Rob Banham from Glen Innes, and Inverell's deputy mayor Kate Dight all signed the petition on Tuesday.

The institute has set itself a deadline of September 30 to collect all the signatures.

It will be available to be signed in local businesses.

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