Page 2081 - Week 06 - Thursday, 26 June 2008
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The impact of the increase in same-day and overnight separation is a requirement for additional inpatient beds from a base of 785 in 2006-07 to 1,0270 in 2022. At TCH this translates into an increase in medical and surgical beds from 265 in 2007 to 380 in 2022. There will be a further 20 ambulatory-care treatment beds in addition to satellite renal dialysis chairs. At Calvary, there will be an increase in medical and surgical beds from 80 to 130. Aged-care and non-acute beds across the territory are projected to double from almost 115 to 230, as well as beds at the Capital Region Cancer Service.
Mental health beds will also increase from 100 to 120, and complement an increased number of care places based in the community. A mental health assessment unit will also be established next to the Canberra Hospital’s emergency department. The development of extended day surgery units at TCH and Calvary to provide up to 80 per cent of elective surgery by 2022 will allow for better management of theatres by delineating movements in elective surgery. The establishment of a medi-hotel on the TCH campus will provide alternative accommodation for patients who do not need to be admitted but who need to be close to the hospital.
On top of the required capacity increases, there is growing international concern about managing the risks associated with hospital acquired infections and the need to aim for an increase in single rooms. New technology such as e-health will also revolutionise the way our health system works together and how the infrastructure is developed. Community-based services will expand their role in managing acute and complex clients to assist in preventing admission to hospital.
We will have state-of-the-art facilities that will include additional operating theatres, additional emergency department beds, additional hospital beds, including ICU and CCU, refurbished and new community health centres, an integrated cancer centre, a women’s and children’s hospital, increased outpatient or ambulatory services, and an increased research and skills development facility. Through this detailed planning exercise, we now have conceptual designs for the public hospital campus and community health centres to incorporate the above service delivery requirements. This design reflects the combination of new building refurbishment and has received support from key ACT Health stakeholders.
The ACT government has a blueprint for the total renewal of its health facilities and has made a commitment in the 2008-09 budget to move forward to detailed design and construction of projects which are essential to take our health system forward. Taking a design and making it into reality will be a complex process that involves multiple stages expanding over a 10-year time frame. Such a process will need to occur whilst the health service continues to deliver services. We will have a preliminary staging and decanting program which will again be subject to the next step, which is a rigorous, detailed planning and design or project definition stage. It is essential that this is undertaken to ensure that the whole program is planned to ensure that we keep delivering on service while we create out health system of the future.
A key feature of our planning has been the need to rethink the way that we will deliver health care. Whilst much of the planning has focused on physical infrastructure, this will be a major change management initiative that will involve the
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