Health Minister Steven Miles caught up with Bundaberg Region Mayor Jack Dempsey today to discuss plans for a new hospital in Bundaberg.
Mayor Dempsey said it was a positive meeting and he thanked the Minister for consulting Council.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk promised several weeks ago the Government will invest in a new state-of-the-art hospital for the Bundaberg Region.
Her announcement coincided with a petition launched by Mayor Dempsey, which was tabled in State Parliament.
“The Minister reaffirmed the Government’s commitment and said work will start soon on a detailed business case to identify a suitable site and design,” Mayor Dempsey said.
“This shapes to be the biggest single construction project in Bundaberg’s history.
“It’s a massive long-term investment in the health and wellbeing of our community.
“I thanked the Minister for this undertaking, noting that Labor is the first political party to make this commitment.”
Mayor Dempsey said he pledged Council’s support to assist with research and site selection.
“At the end of the day it’s the Government’s decision but we’re here to assist in any way we can,” he said.
“I’d like to acknowledge the hard work of Wide Bay Health Service chair Peta Jamieson and chief executive Adrian Pennington in advocating for this important project.”
Health Minister backs new Bundaberg Hospital
In a recent statement, Mr Miles said Building Queensland would begin work on the detailed business case immediately.
“This is about providing the Bundaberg community with the access to services it needs,” he said.
“It continues on our strong track-record of building and expanding hospitals and delivering health services for regional Queensland.”
Mr Miles said as well as looking at potential greenfield sites, the detailed business case would consider options to stage the construction so some services could be brought online before the entire project was completed.
This would also enable the existing hospital to be progressively decommissioned or even re-purposed for low acuity or community-based services.
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