DOCUMENTS REVEAL COOLAMON RESIDENTS MISSED OUT ON CARE DUE TO MPS CONSTRAINTS
An order to release government documents has revealed Coolamon-Ganmain Multi-Purpose Service (MPS) was denied two additional bed licences in July 2025 because the facility lacked the infrastructure required to accommodate them.
The revelation comes after the Minns Labor Government abandoned plans for a new, expanded Coolamon-Ganmain MPS, a project first committed to by the former Coalition Government in 2023.
Documents were obtained through a Standing Order 52 (SO52), sought by Member for Cootamundra, Steph Cooke, and executed by Coalition colleagues in the NSW Legislative Council.
The papers also revealed internal health department correspondence identifying the Multi-Purpose Services at Coolamon and Grenfell as the Regional Health Division's two highest priorities for capital investment in NSW.
Since the change of government in 2023, Ms Cooke has repeatedly advocated for both projects alongside local communities, with Grenfell MPS unable to bring nine federally approved residential aged care beds online because of limitations within the state-owned facility.
She said the evidence confirmed what local communities had been warning for years.
"This evidence is heartbreaking because it means at least two Coolamon residents have either had to leave their hometown to receive care or remain in a hospital bed elsewhere because there was no capacity to place them at Coolamon," Ms Cooke said.
"The Government has had plans for an upgraded facility sitting on the shelf for almost four years.”
“Instead of delivering the infrastructure needed to keep people close to family and support networks, it has allowed local residents to wear the consequences of underinvestment in regional healthcare."
The documents paint a concerning picture of growing demand being constrained by ageing infrastructure, despite department staff recognising that both Coolai-purposemon and Grenfell require significant capital upgrades.
Ms Cooke said the findings raise serious questions about the Government's regional health priorities and that communities across regional NSW would be closely watching the Government's next move.
"If neither Coolamon nor Grenfell is guaranteed funding, it will be difficult to conclude anything other than that the Minns Labor Government is either walking away from investment in regional Multi-Purpose Services or playing politics with health spending,” Ms Cooke said.
"The Government has before it clear evidence from local communities and its own department that these projects are urgently needed and ignoring that advice would be impossible to justify."
"If the Government intends to build new Multi-Purpose Services anywhere in regional New South Wales, there is more than enough evidence to show that Coolamon and Grenfell are the next in line."
"Failing to progress these projects would send a worrying message to every regional community waiting for better health infrastructure that even when the need is proven, and the evidence is overwhelming, they may still be left waiting for action."
