Stephen Bennett and Tom Smith trade blows over new Bundaberg Hospital

Burnett MP Stephen Bennett claims the government has backflipped on their commitment to a Level 5 hospital for Bundaberg, but the Member for Bundaberg says nothing has changed.

Burnett MP Stephen Bennett says the State Government has backflipped on their commitment to a Level 5 hospital for Bundaberg, but Bundaberg MP Tom Smith says the government's commitment has not changed.

Just days out from next week’s state budget, a war of words has broken out between Burnett MP Stephen Bennett and Bundaberg MP Tom Smith over Bundaberg’s new hospital.

It comes after Health Minister Yvette D’Ath explained, in her answer to a question on notice from Mr Bennett, the reason the Bundaberg Hospital Redevelopment project was not being called a Level 5 hospital.

Mr Bennett claimed the Bundaberg community had been “betrayed”, saying the government was “denying the community their promised Level 5 hospital”.

However, Bundaberg MP Tom Smith said “nothing has changed” in the government’s commitment.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced a new hospital for Bundaberg had been given the green light in 2019 and last year announced the infrastructure’s preferred site.

It was further back, in 2017, that Labor announced $3m towards a business case for a “new or refurbished” hospital, with some local politicians such as Mayor Jack Dempsey calling for the facility to be a Level 5 establishment.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, WBHHS board chair Peta Jamieson and chief executive Deborah Carroll at the preferred site for the new Bundaberg Hospital last year.

A detailed business case is being put together and is expected to be submitted to the government later this year.

A Level 5 service has strong university affiliations with major teaching with some research commitments in both local and multi-centre research and also manages all but the most highly complex patients and procedures.

“I want to be clear, we’re not saying there’s not going to be a new hospital, I think it’s about the story and the journey this community was led down with the promises of a Level 5 hospital,” Mr Bennett said.

“Clear promises were made to our community and now a complete reversal and walking away from the Level 5 promises.

“It’s not a Level 5 hospital anymore, it’s about Level 5 services, we’ll see some new greenfill site construction on Kay McDuff Drive, there’s no doubt about that, but I guess we’ll see a distribution of these services across the whole Wide Bay Health Service, and maybe that’s the right model, but it’s not what was promised.”

When Health Minister Yvette D’Ath was asked by Mr Bennett if the government would commit to a Level 5 hospital in Bundaberg in April, she said the term Level 5 hospital was a “shorthand way” of explaining the proposed hospital would “work towards providing predominantly Level 5 services, as defined by the Clinical Services Capability Framework.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Her response was tabled in parliament last month.

“As Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service (HHS) has moved into more detailed planning stages – including public consultation – I understand it has moved away from using technical medical terms such as CSCF levels in an effort to provide clearer explanations in plain English, to ensure its communities understand what the proposed changes will mean for them,” she said.

“I am told that several community members have also been under the impression that the term refers to the number of physical levels, and that the proposed hospital would be a five-storey building. Examples such as this support the need to avoid and move away from technical medical terms.”

Mr Bennett said described the minister’s response a “condescending”.

“For the minister to say the government won’t be referring to the hospital as a Level 5 because they want to provide clearer explanations in plain English, and that people are confusing the reference to mean the proposed hospital would be a five-storey building is downright offensive,” he said.

Bundaberg MP Tom Smith said the government’s commitment to the new hospital had not changed and there was no rolling back on the commitment.

He said because the business case was yet to be presented to the government, there “would not be a set allocation in next week’s budget” for the new hospital.

He said once costings had been determined in the business case allocations would be made in future budgets.

Mr Smith said the new hospital would be “packed full of Level 5 services”.

“What the government went to the election with, what the government did when the premier came up has not changed whatsoever,” he said.

“What you have is Level 5 services in the hospitals and that has always been the promise of the government, is that we’ll deliver a brand new hospital in Bundaberg that will cater Level 5 services.

“That’s exactly what we need, because it’s going to cater for the whole of the Wide Bay region.”

He said the business case will also help confirm which level 5 services will be available at the hospital.

“This is going to be the largest infrastructure built in the Widey Bay’s history so we’ve got to get it right and make sure the services are there that are going to meet the needs of the people in the Wide Bay region,” he said.

“We are going to have a world class hospital and that world class hospital will have level 5 services expanded from what’s currently in the existing Bundaberg Hospital and will be there for the whole of the Wide Bay region.

“What this is, is a brand new hospital catering level 5 services.

“The level 5 services that have been identified as a need are going to go into the new hospital and we are going to have all of the services that are in demand here in Bundaberg.”

The detailed business case for the hospital is still going through the process of being finalised before it is handed to the government.