Gympie needs a new hospital and it’s time to start planning

Gympie’s incumbent MP says the Gympie public hospital has served the community well, but its awkward location limits its future

Incumbent LNP candidate Tony Perrett says Gympie’s Hospital poses challenges to the regin’s ageing population at its present home. Photo Tanya Easterby / The Gympie Times

INCUMBENT Gympie MP Tony Perrett has called for planning to begin on a replacement for Gympie's "awkwardly" placed hospital to ensure the region's growth does not outstrip its health capabilities.

Prompted by a question about the future of the region's health services following the closure of the city's private hospital, and the pressure this put on the region's ageing population, Mr Perrett said a new health centre was imperative.

Gympie’s Private Hospital shut in early 2019.

He said the hospital served the community well for more than a century at its Henry St home, but the location limited its future and posed challenges for those it was there to help.

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"You look at the car park, you look at the hills around it and you look at the elderly that struggle to get into it; it is very poor," Mr Perrett said.

LNP candidate Tony Perrett.

"The planning and the thinking needs to start for a new hospital.

"As we see the population grow in this region … we need to look at a greenfield (undeveloped) site for a new hospital.

"That's a reality.

"A lot of the infrastructure … served (the community) very, very well for a long period of time."

"But the hospital, it's constrained and it's very awkward."

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