Page 867 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 March 1990
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The question of choosing the principal hospital was not an easy one. Royal Canberra is the oldest hospital in Canberra and the design of even the newest buildings is poor and inefficient. It is well behind Woden Valley and Calvary Hospitals and a long way short of contemporary standards.
Woden Valley Hospital could be developed as the principal hospital for a capital cost of around $124m. To be developed for exactly the same role, Royal Canberra would involve an all up cost of around $216m, which includes $36m to relocate the central pathology laboratory to the site. This figure is around $92m more than the Woden alternative. The extent of the difference makes any decision in favour of Royal Canberra Hospital an impossibility.
Although it is significantly cheaper to develop Woden Valley as the principal hospital, it has been suggested by some that Royal Canberra should be the principal hospital because of its location adjacent to the Australian National University. If the Australian National University does establish a clinical school for medical undergraduates, there would be some advantages in close location. However, there are many examples of major teaching hospitals which are not in close proximity to their university, such as Royal North Shore Hospital and Westmead Hospital with their relationship to the University of Sydney.
In any objective appraisal of the two options, it is clear that the substantially higher capital cost of developing Royal Canberra as the principal hospital on its present site - that is, $216m compared with $124m - is not in any way offset by potential service or location advantages arising out of such a development. The Government has therefore decided that the Woden Valley site will be developed as the location for the principal hospital in the ACT.
To meet the future public hospital requirements of the ACT, in addition to a 700-bed principal hospital a further 300 public beds are needed over the next 10 years. The choice we face is whether to provide these 300 general hospital beds on one site or two.
Planning for an oversupply of hospital beds "in case they might be needed" and keeping Royal Canberra and Calvary Hospitals open to achieve this would be economically unsound. This is demonstrated by the situation that confronts the Government where, as a direct result of irresponsible "over-planning" by the Commonwealth in the past, Woden Valley and Calvary Hospitals have both substantial ward areas that are lying idle.
In any case, if needs change in the future beyond what is expected, the capacity exists to quickly adjust the beds provided to meet any reasonable scenario. Both Calvary and Royal Canberra Hospitals serve a majority of clients from North Canberra. Either hospital operating at around 300
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