‘Rescue Plan’ for Redcliffe Hospital expansion

Photo: Angelico Jarvis Photography

The State Government has today announced a ‘Hospital Rescue Plan’ to deliver the Redcliffe Hospital expansion project as well as three new hospitals, a Queensland Cancer Centre and nine other hospital upgrades across the state.

Late last year, the new LNP Government appointed a team led by hospital infrastructure specialist Sam Sangster to “scrutinise delivery timelines and construction sector constraints to save Queensland’s Hospital Capacity Expansion Program”.

Mr Sangster spoke at a Major Contractors Association event this morning and the State Government issued a press release just after 10am.

The review found the Redcliffe Hospital expansion could be delayed by at least two years and would now cost $2,122,000,000, instead of the $1,060,000,000 initially announced.

“The present project is undeliverable in its current form - without resolution of the scar tree issue, the resolution of the clinical scope matters, the technical challenges with expanding the car park and the risk allocation driving subcontractor pricing, the project will continue to experience delays and unmitigable increased forecast costs,” it said.

The State Government says: “the independent review into Labor’s hospital build program … has exposed major mismanagement including delays, under-funded projects and significant design flaws which left critical health services missing from hospitals.

“The Hospital Rescue Plan is an investment in the future, with 2600 hospital beds to give clinicians the resources they need to do their jobs effectively and give Queenslanders access to health services when they need them.”

The plan includes “at least 210 new beds and an expansion for the Redcliffe Hospital”, six more than announced by the previous government.

At this stage, it is unclear when the Redcliffe Hospital expansion will be finished. It was originally due to be completed in 2028. Moreton Daily has asked Minister Nicholls’ office for more information.

State Member for Redcliffe Kerri-Anne Dooley said the Hospital Rescue Plan “is a great outcome for Redcliffe, and we can now be confident that we will have the healthcare infrastructure and services we need for the future”.

Ms Dooley said the State Government would deliver services including maternity, mental health short stay and surgical; a new, fully developed plan that meets hospital and health service and clinical needs; a design that ensures the safety of nurses, doctors and healthcare workers; better use of the site to maximise service delivery and safety, and avoid cultural artefacts; and more car parks.

“As we now know, the Sangster Review has revealed that the previous government failed to properly plan the Redcliffe Hospital expansion, deeming it as undeliverable,” she said.

Work stopped at the Redcliffe Hospital expansion site weeks ago and it is unclear when it will resume.

Preparatory work had started, with construction of a nine-storey clinical services building the first element expected in the project plan developed by the previous Labor State Government.

The full project was expected to deliver 204 new beds, ambulatory care and a significant expansion of existing services including theatres, birthing, endoscopy and a range of other clinical and support services.

What now?

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Tim Nicholls said the Government was saving hospital projects Labor “left without a pulse”.

“This plan delivers the work and planning required to ensure all services that should be delivered with these new and expanded hospitals, are delivered,” he said.

Opposition Health Spokesman Mark Bailey refuted claims planning was rushed, saying years of department planning and business case development went into the program.

He said projects were as well planned as they could be at the time and, ahead of caretaker period before the election, they were on track to deliver 2200 beds by 2028.

Mr Bailey called on the Government to release the draft report to prove no changes had been made to the review ahead of its release.

“Today Queenslanders are left with more questions than answers. David Crisafulli committed to 2200 beds by 2028 and what we see today is no timeline for construction, no commitment in terms of budget to that commitment whatsoever,” Mr Bailey said.

“It’s hard to see that this is not another broken promise. This government’s got a history of juicing up the figures. We are concerned this is setting the stage for deep cuts in terms of health.”

He said “today we are not one bed closer than yesterday” to meeting high demand for more hospital beds across the state.

Mr Bailey said construction pauses ordered by the Government had already delayed the delivery of these beds.