Page 1531 - Week 05 - Thursday, 11 April 2013

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Hospital and Calvary hospital will transfer to UCPH, freeing acute bed capacity in both Canberra Hospital and Calvary.

The new University of Canberra public hospital, which is situated on the Uni of Canberra campus, will continue the expansion of health and hospital services in the ACT. The new facility will enable subacute services to be provided in a purpose-built, contemporary facility, with a focus on these services, without the pressure created by emergency and acute care needs. We are working with the University of Canberra on the capacity for clinical education and research to be included as part of that project.

We expect that the construction of the hospital will take two years, beginning within 18 months of the commencement of the design phase. So there are still a number of years to go before that service will be fully operational and able to be commissioned. Advertisements calling for the expression of interest will appear nationally on the weekend for the next stage, which is the preliminary sketch plans for the new facility. It is expected that those will be completed in February 2014 and made available for broad community and stakeholder consultation at that time.

MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Hanson.

MR HANSON: Minister, how much will the hospital cost and when will it be open?

MS GALLAGHER: I have answered that question in terms of the construction timetable—so the fact that we expect it will take about two years to construct and that would begin within 18 months of the commencement of the design phase. I then went on to say that the design phase is moving into the next stage and the budget will be informed—

Mr Hanson: Madam Speaker—

MS GALLAGHER: It does not matter that you get out of your chair faster, Mr Hanson. I still get the same amount of time to answer the question. The design stage is reaching another point—

Mr Hanson: Madam Speaker—

MADAM SPEAKER: Are you taking a point of order?

Mr Hanson: Yes, I am, Madam Speaker.

MADAM SPEAKER: You need to say “a point of order”, Mr Hanson.

Mr Hanson: Yes, I understand that. I was just waiting to see whether the minister was going to actually provide an answer and she failed to do so. So on a point of order on relevance, I have asked the minister: when will it open and how much will it cost? The minister has been talking about different phases, but she has not identified when it will start and when it will finish. What I want to know is: when will it open and how much will it cost?


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