The term "hospital" is subject to a lot of interpretation and is an emotionally laden issue in many rural communities.
Many of the "hospitals" mapped in NSW rural areas (and presumably in other states) do not satisfy the OSM definition of "hospital" and some would not satisfy the definition of "clinic" depending on whether the 10 staff (as specified in the OSM wiki) should be there at any one time or could be rostered one, two or three at a time over the many hours of each working week. These health facilities are important to their communities and to visitors. If this is all the community has and they regard it as their "hospital" then I feel reluctant to take it away. In the event of an accident or urgent illness, where would local residents or visitors go? They will usually tell you to go to the "hospital" (irrespective of its official title). If one referred to a local map in an emergency, one would hope the nearest emergency treatment centre would be clearly identifiable on the map. I reckon the locals would regard the Burketown facility as their hospital even if it is not so named and even if it does not satisfy OSM criteria. Further, the Queensland Health webpage states that the Burketown clinic provides limited "hospital services". The Burketown clinic is NOT a "medical centre". "Medical practitoners" (often referred to as "doctors") have a special status in legislation and it would usually expected that only registered medical practitioners practise in a "medical centre". Anyone other than a doctor would work strictly under the direction of medical practitioners in that location. That is not how hospitals or public health services operate. To my knowledge, "medical centres" in Australia are always operated by doctors in private practice. I am confident that would not be the case in Burketown. "Amenity=clinic" would probably be the other tag I can suggest, even if the Burketown clinic might not satisfy wiki requirements for that tag either. Perhaps the Australian Guidelines should permit the "hospital" tag where that is consistent with usage of the term by the local community. On Fri, 4 Sep 2020, at 2:51 AM, Graeme Fitzpatrick wrote: > Over the last few days, I've spotted a few places marked as hospitals > that aren't. > > Locally, there were two Aged Care homes, then as I looked around > further, I spotted another Aged Care home, an Ambulance station in a > small country town & an SES station! > > The Ambo station I could almost relate to, as that's where you go for > any medical emergency, but none of the others. Incidentally, there is > hopefully some progress on them being rendered? > https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/issues/3968 > > I did an Overpass search for Qld & found ~2100 "hospitals", which seems > like a lot? https://overpass-turbo.eu/# (Don't know if that works or > not?), & checking at random, found more Ambo's, Doctor's surgeries & so > on also marked. > > I did notice, though, a few of these: > https://www.health.qld.gov.au/services/northwest/nwest_burket_hc > > Personally, I would call that a Medical Centre, not a Hospital?, while > this https://www.health.qld.gov.au/cq/hospitals/blackwater/services > with A&E & inpatients *is* a Hospital. > > What do you all think? > > Thanks > > Graeme > _______________________________________________ > Talk-au mailing list > Talk-au@openstreetmap.org > https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-au > _______________________________________________ Talk-au mailing list Talk-au@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-au
