Documents obtained under Freedom of Information have revealed the hospital project was not submitted for Commonwealth funding as planning was not far enough advanced.

The future of the redevelopment now looks to be in doubt despite assurances from NSW Health Minister John Della Bosca that the project will commence within the current parliamentary term.

However, unable to obtain a definitive answer as to whether the project would indeed go ahead, the Tamworth Oncology Redevelopment Committee decided last year to press on with plans to expand and upgrade the oncology unit at Tamworth hospital.

After 18 months of fundraising and six months’ construction, the redeveloped unit was officially opened on March 28.

Oncology committee chairwoman Anne Jacob said the group’s decision to press on regardless of what happened with the new hospital was vindicated by this latest news.

“We were always going to go ahead when we were at the point where we had the funds to do so, regardless of what happened,” Mrs Jacob said.

“Even if a new hospital did go ahead, we always felt that if we were to wait, by the time the hospital was finished, the unit would be ready for another upgrade.

“We were not asked to put it on hold, even though a lot of people outside the hospital were asking the question whether or not we should.

“But cancer doesn’t wait and no one could give us an answer.

“No one could say ‘yes it’s going to happen’ and without that information, without being directed to a government website and seeing some sort of government paperwork with capital planning details in black and white, we weren’t going to put it on hold.”

Friends of Nioka (FoN) also decided to proceed with plans to expand its palliative care unit after they too decided the patients they served couldn’t wait.

“All I can say, is the sooner we can get on with it, the better,” FoN president Greg Carr said.

The development application for FoN’s expansion plans are currently before Tamworth Regional Council awaiting approval.

“Oncology have done a wonderful job and we hope they will continue to support us as they have done,” Mr Carr said.