Page 1236 - Week 04 - Thursday, 5 May 2022
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The Canberra Hospital is undergoing significant change, as it has been over the last decade and more. It is just over 10 years since the adult mental health unit opened, followed by the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children, the Canberra Region Cancer Centre and the expanded emergency department—to name just a few major projects delivered over this period.
In December 2021, the ACT government released the Canberra Hospital master plan, the blueprint for how we will continue the transformation of the Canberra Hospital campus over the next 20 years. The master plan builds on the ACT government’s nearly $1.3 billion investment in healthcare infrastructure over the past decade and the Canberra Hospital expansion project currently underway. It incorporates improvements that we are already making and outlines how this work will continue into the future to meet the community’s needs. Implementation of the master plan will transform the campus in stages and ensure the best utilisation of existing critical buildings and buildings currently under construction such as the critical services building.
In summary, this government is investing in growing our healthcare capacity and ensuring that future generations of Canberrans and their families have access to the very best healthcare facilities. I am looking forward to seeing this building rise over the course of the year. This $624 million project is a record investment in the future of our health system, the largest health infrastructure project since self-government. It is a key part of our plan to ensure that all Canberrans have access to the health services they need, when they need them. I present the following paper:
Canberra Hospital Expansion Project—Ministerial statement, 5 May 2022.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the paper.
MS DAVIDSON (Murrumbidgee—Assistant Minister for Families and Community Services, Minister for Disability, Minister for Justice Health, Minister for Mental Health and Minister for Veterans and Seniors) (10.37): I rise today just to say a few words in support of this statement. As a local resident in the area, the hospital is literally at the end of the street that I live on. Every now and then I hear the SouthCare helicopter fly overhead and I think to myself, “There’s another life being saved,” and that is a good feeling.
I also want to note the extensive consultations that have been undertaken as part of this work and how much the consultation by Canberra Health Services has improved in recent years. I participated in consultations on the Centenary hospital for women back in 2009-10 as a member of the community sector. I also participated in some of the early consultations for the Canberra Hospital expansion in 2018-19 as a community sector worker as well. It has been really pleasing to see the improvements in consultation with the community that have happened over the past decade. I note that local residents have raised a number of parking and traffic concerns that I see have been addressed in some of the changes to the plans over this period, reflecting that those consultations have been quite effective.
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