Page 1274 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 11 May 2021
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MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Dr Paterson for the question. The Canberra Hospital expansion project will deliver significantly increased capacity across Canberra Hospital’s adult intensive care, surgical care, coronary care and emergency services. It will introduce a paediatric intensive care. At approximately 43,000 square metres, the new facility will enable a bigger, better Canberra Hospital to meet the needs of our growing city and region.
The expansion will see 22 new theatres. This will include state-of-the-art hybrid and interventional radiology theatres, to allow the latest advances in medical technology to be used for the care of the ACT community. The coronary care unit will include 32 acute cardiac care beds, including bariatric and isolation beds; four cardiac catheterisation laboratories, including one hybrid cardiac laboratory and one electrophysiology laboratory; and a cardiac day unit to support the cardiac catheterisation laboratories.
The new emergency department will have 147 spaces—72 more than are currently available at the Canberra Hospital. In addition the new emergency department will include a dedicated separate paediatric stream.
The new facility will add to the medical imaging facilities available at Canberra Hospital, with four X-ray rooms, including one orthopantomogram, a radiograph of the tissues and skeletal structures of the oral cavity; three CT scanners; two ultrasound rooms; one ultrasound procedure room; and two MRIs, including one interoperative MRI.
The government is committed to delivering world-class critical care facilities in the Canberra region through the Canberra Hospital expansion and our other investments in Canberra Hospital, and our planned investments on the north side. Again, if the Canberra Liberals had been elected, they would have gone back to the drawing board with the Canberra Hospital expansion. Mrs Jones clearly claimed that there was 12 months’ worth of design yet to go before the development application was submitted. We submitted the development application on time, and I encourage people to take a look at it. (Time expired.)
MR PETTERSSON: Minister, how does the Canberra Hospital expansion fit within the ACT government’s territory-wide plan for health care?
Mrs Jones interjecting—
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mr Pettersson for the question and Mrs Jones for her efforts. The ACT government is committed to the upgrade and delivery of new public hospital and health facilities across the territory. Over the last decade, we have invested more than a billion dollars in health infrastructure and we will continue to invest in the coming years. The government is taking a proactive approach to futureproofing our health system to ensure that the right care is delivered in the right place at the right time.
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