Page 726 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 March 1991
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I have already mentioned that the Government's concern is to retain the health focus at Acton. However, we have a lot of floor space there - some 55,500 square metres in all - most of which is in the central complex. If there is excess space, then second level priority will be given to community services which may be provided either by the Government or by community organisations and other Government services as may be appropriate. Surplus space in Sylvia Curley House, the staff residence, is already being used for student accommodation, and this situation will continue. This semester, for example, some 112 students from TAFE, the ANU, the University of Canberra and the Ministry of Education are living in Sylvia Curley House. Bennett House, the original nurses residence, will continue to be used to provide office accommodation for the Australian Institute of Health, which leases approximately two-thirds of the building.
The remaining area is used by a number of community organisations and by ACT Board of Health services such as the Radiation Safety Unit. These arrangements will continue. Some community health organisations are already renting space in the central complex. These include the ACT Diabetes Association, the ACT Mental Health Resource and the Epilepsy Association. The hospital has also provided on-site child-care facilities for its staff for some years. New child-care centres are being built at both Royal Canberra Hospital South and Calvary. These will be operational early in 1992. Consequently, the Acton Peninsula centre will no longer be required by hospital staff.
The Government is currently investigating options for the future of this centre, in line with our commitment to providing quality affordable child-care in the ACT. The Government has decided to establish a 30-bed slow stream rehabilitation unit at Acton. This will be located in one of the older, self-contained buildings on the site, currently housing H-Block and the isolation ward. This building was chosen for this purpose because of its size, location and ready access to the lake.
The slow stream rehabilitation unit will provide a new service that is badly needed in the ACT. It will provide both active rehabilitation and convalescent care. The specific aim of the service will be to assist patients to become independent so that they can return home and live full and healthy lives. It will also cater for the needs of veterans, who up until now have not had access to a local facility of this nature. The current building will be completely refurbished at a cost of $1.4m. The Government plans to build a new 75-bed nursing home at Acton and has asked the NCPA to include this in its consideration of long-term uses of the site. In fact, the services required to support a nursing home have been included in the brief for the joint study.
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