Page 1350 - Week 07 - Thursday, 24 August 1989
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Mr Speaker, the steering committee has carefully evaluated the full range of realistic options for the redevelopment of ACT public hospitals. This evaluation was conducted against criteria which included range and quality of services, access and availability to all clients, opportunities for teaching and research, and capital and recurrent costs.
In conducting its work, the committee has been assisted by the firm of TGP&PON, architects and health planners, with the support of specialised consultants, such as quantity surveyors. The committee strongly supports the one principal hospital concept and points out that its application would ensure that the quality of services in the ACT would improve and that service levels generally available in State capitals would be available in the ACT.
Further it recommends, on the basis of capital and recurrent costs and without jeopardising issues of access and equity, that Woden Valley Hospital should be developed to become the principal hospital with around 600 beds. It notes that the alternative, of developing Royal Canberra Hospital as the principal hospital, would involve greater capital costs because of the obsolescence of the existing buildings.
The committee has put forward two alternatives for the development of associated community hospital facilities. The first provides for a single 300-bed community hospital based on the present Calvary Hospital. This option proposes the closure of Royal Canberra Hospital and use of the site for the development of budget neutral public health facilities such as the relocation of the Jindalee Nursing Home. The all-up capital cost of the option is about $154m and it would achieve ongoing operating cost savings of around $8.5m per year.
The second alternative provides for two community hospitals, one of 250 beds based on Royal Canberra Hospital and another of 150 beds based on Calvary Hospital. The all-up capital cost of this option is estimated to be in the range of $200m to $210m and it would achieve ongoing operating cost savings of around $5m per year. The committee canvassed 10 options in its deliberations, ranging from the status quo to a single 1,000-bed hospital.
The Labor Government has a strong commitment to an efficient, effective and caring public hospital system which addresses the needs of the community. In this context, financial considerations will not be the only factors on which the Government bases its decision.
The committee proposes that the development of Woden Valley Hospital as the principal hospital should proceed immediately to ensure that improved services become available to the Canberra community as soon as possible. It notes that it is technically possible to proceed with
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