Wodonga Council stands ground on push for greenfields Border hospital

Cr Mildren said he was disappointed with how the state-government administered health service's annual meeting was run on Tuesday night, where chairman Matt Burke called for a united community front and spoke about the benefits of an upgrade to Albury hospital.

"I felt the meeting was fundamentally presenting an opinion and position that placates the masters," he said.

"They should absolutely be beholden to community, but what happens when you get government-appointed boards, when these sort of contentious issues happen, the boards are beholden to the government and must represent the government's point of view.

"Otherwise, they don't hold their position on the board. It's a simple equation.

"In the community and with organisations like ourselves, we need to be able to point out the things that we don't see as appropriate. We need to point it out to the government, as well as to the board."

Cr Mildren also questioned Mr Burke's claim patient confidence was damaged by opposition to the $558 million set aside by the Victorian and NSW governments last year to upgrade Albury hospital.

"We've learnt in the last three or so years that fear mongering is very strong and powerful in the community. From my observation, I see that as a bit more fear mongering," he said.

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Mr Burke said an Albury Wodonga Health site study found both the greenfield and brownfield options were viable.

"Albury Wodonga Health made it clear to both state governments that a greenfield development was the preferred option. Ultimately, both the Victorian and NSW governments have agreed to fund the redevelopment on the Albury campus," he said.

"Our job now is to get on with building our new clinical services building, which is a significant step forward in achieving our full clinical services plan.

"We are calling for community leaders and health advocates to rally behind our health service and this significant investment in health infrastructure."

Albury Council rejected Wodonga Council's call to support it in a greenfields hospital site, which Cr Mildren felt was to ensure the hospital was kept in Albury.

"It should be the greenfield site, in the best location for the services, but I think we can have a conversation with Albury about that and work on that over time," he added.

"I think we've got the community and most medical professionals in Albury-Wodonga backing our position."

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