In the same interview, Mrs Hancock batted aside questions about the poor wait times for seriously ill patients fronting the Emergency Department. This spike, she asserted, could be explained by the seasons - the flu season and the holiday season.

If the visit was meant to calm the simmering dissatisfaction with local health services, it didn't. Nor did Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District board chairman Dennis King who wrote a scathing letter dismissing the Times for its urging for a CT scanner to be established at Milton Hospital.

He accused the Times of being senationalist in calling for the scanner, saying there was insufficient demand and that the investment would be better spent on services for which there was a demand.

We hope he reads the stories we have published this week, about people having to navigate the long drive and sometimes long wait for a service we maintain should be available in the district.

We are particularly concerned about Rebecca Cameron's experience. Because her mother had an accident out of working hours, she couldn't get the necessary CT scan - available only privately - unless she went to Nowra. The message in this: if you're going to have a mishap that will require a CT scan, do it in working hours and hope for a booking.

We've already heard of patients going without scans because they could not to face the trip to Nowra and the possibility of a long wait at the already stressed hospital there.

With our population trebling over the busy summer months and recent figures which show the holiday season is extending beyond the summer months, it's fair to assume we will see more frequent out-of-hours mishaps needing scans.

As Ms Cameron sees it - and it's a view we're unfortunately hearing from many other residents - our hospital has been reduced to a glorified hospice. There are no birthing services, no surgeons, no anaesthetists, she says.

The health district might want the CT scanner issue to go away but we are certain the community won't allow that to happen.