Michael Lumsden-Steel
To build a new hospital will probably cost about $2.5 billion in today’s terms. By the time you build it, which will be hopefully in the next 10 years, will be maybe $3 billion in total. So what we’re saying to all politicians, we need to work collectively. Let’s see a cohesive strategic plan going forward. We’ve got 17 federal politicians in this state. We need to work strategically and collectively for a long term medical infrastructure plan for the state. We look at how we could contract that existing Royal Hobart site to provide a service. It’s quite timely, it’s Women’s Health Week, because one of the ideas we floated is that becomes for southern Tasmania, and particularly the state, the dedicated women’s and children’s hospital. We used to have a women’s and children’s hospital in Hobart, and that was the Queen Alex. That was subsumed into the Royal, and now it’s become Hobart Private. But this infrastructure is old, tired, and it’s getting to the end of its life cycle and lifespan of usability before it needs extensive upgrades. So what we’re proposing here is we’ve put an idea out there. It isn’t the only solution, but we need to have the conversation strategically. How we can use this site by contracting and demolishing the old infrastructure, how you use the rest of that site effectively, and do we build either a new major public elective surgical hospital, or do we build a new Royal Hobart hospital and provide women’s and children’s health, major cancer surgery, oncology treatments, etc. at that existing K Block site. You’re probably aware, but there’s so many things that happen at the Royal Hobart Hospital that are seeded into the city. We’ve got outpatient clinics offsite, we’ve got other services being run at different buildings. We’ve got a not-fit-for-purpose mental health unit that’s surrounded by concrete on the third floor. We’ve got patients that literally can’t get out for any free air to walk around for coalescence and rehabilitation. We’ve got staff that can’t get access to affordable car parking. And unfortunately, our public transport is not fit for purpose for the times that our nursing staff and our other people are floating into the hospital and leaving the hospital, starting shifts at 7am, finishing shifts at 11pm, trying to go home, come back the next day. So clearly at the moment, we need some strategic planning, and that involves talking to the councils about where the potential land’s available. But we need to think strategically. We need to build a hospital that also has capacity in 20, 30 years’ time to build a new tower if required. We would love to think that in 30 years’ time, 20 years’ time, we don’t need to have any more beds than we do at the moment, an ED that’s fit for purpose and capacity. But that needs a commitment and a plan, and right now, there isn’t that strategic plan based on demand.
