Page 1232 - Week 04 - Thursday, 5 May 2022
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Health) (10.23): I am pleased to update the Assembly today about the Canberra Hospital expansion project. Since my last ministerial statement to the Assembly on this project in February 2021, the $624 million Canberra Hospital expansion project has dramatically transformed the Canberra Hospital campus.
The enabling works program to relocate services around the campus in preparation for the new critical services building has now been fully delivered. The enabling works alone have supported about 100 local jobs, with Canberrans joining teams that have delivered the construction phase of the enabling works that have provided some great new facilities for the immediate benefit of hospital users and staff.
By far the biggest project in the enabling works program was the completion of a new building 8 in June 2021. The opening of building 8 was an important milestone for the Canberra Hospital expansion project and has provided fantastic new facilities for the Canberra community and health service staff. Building 8 houses the Canberra Sexual Health Centre, which was relocated to the modern purpose-built clinic on level 4 of the new building. The relocation of the Canberra Sexual Health Centre has supported the work of providing sexual health services for priority populations, with a focus on prevention, screening, early diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmissible infections and HIV.
Building 8 also includes new teaching and training facilities for the hospital, including accommodation for the ANU Medical School and the University of Canberra. This provides an opportunity to house important research units with education together on the one floor, encouraging increased collaboration. The co-location of education and research means we can measure training effectiveness and provide the community with the assurance that Canberra Health Services staff are accessing the best evidence-based education to enable exceptional person-centred care.
The new Surgical Skills Centre was also a purposely designed and built facility within building 8. The area encompasses private study space, tutorial rooms and two clinical skills laboratories, one of which is equipped to handle wet specimens and tissue. During the enabling works phase, we also delivered a new Child at Risk Health Unit that is ensuring that this crucial work with some of Canberra’s most vulnerable children can continue in new, fit-for-purpose facilities at the Canberra Hospital.
The Canberra Hospital expansion project also undertook refurbishments to building 4, including a new library, and teaching and training spaces; and refurbished building 9 to provide new accommodation facilities for patients and carers. The 12 apartments that were refurbished in building 9 make available short-term accommodation at the Canberra Hospital for interstate patients and carers.
In August 2021, a new temporary car park opened at the former CIT Woden site. The space provides parking for both hospital staff and Canberra Hospital expansion construction contractors. In total, it provides more than 1,100 spaces and has freed up parking on the hospital campus so that patients and visitors can more easily find a park in the multistorey car park.
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