Tanya Milligan takes aim at QLD government over Springfield public hospital, concerns it has jumped ahead of Plainland hospital, Ipswich Hospital upgrades
The new 174-bed public hospital for Springfield was heavily backed by the developers of the largest master planned community in Australia, but now there are concerns it has come at the expense of a new regional hospital and upgrades at Ipswich.
Ipswich
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LOCKYER VALLEY Mayor Tanya Milligan has slammed the state government over its decision to fund a new public hospital in Springfield ahead of a long-waited hospital for her region, saying it had jumped the queue.
There are also concerns that the new 174-bed public hospital, which will be co-located at the 95-bed Mater Private Hospital, could delay the upgrades Ipswich Hospital needs to become a full tertiary facility.
The state government will provide an initial $177 million to fund operational costs for the new public Springfield facility with Mater to cover the building costs.
It was strongly pushed by Springfield City Group, the highly-influential developers of the largest master planned community in the country, and it is expected to open in 2024.
Cr Milligan has long advocated for a regional hospital in Australia’s ‘food bowl’ as mothers can’t even give birth in the region’s two hospitals in Gatton and Laidley.
She said she has spent years “begging, pleading and knocking on doors” to get it over the line.
The fast growing Plainland in the centre of the Lockyer and just off the Warrego Highway has been earmarked as the ideal location.
“West Moreton Hospital and Health Service has got a masterplan for the region and they’re going to soon release their updated, new beaut version,” Cr Milligan said.
“The current master plan actually has regions like Laidley, Gatton, Esk and Boonah all receiving extensions prior to Springfield. It wasn’t part of the master plan.
“The announcement about the $177 million feels exceptionally premature. I feel really bewildered by that.
“It’s obviously wonderful for people in Springfield. I really want to stress that they have already have 95 (private) hospital beds which on good authority have never been at full capacity.”
There are a combined 37 beds in her region’s two hospitals.
The Lockyer Valley is home to more than 42,000 people and its population is expected to rise to 51,500 by 2031.
“Both of our hospitals are level two capacity (six is the highest) and that means low risk,” Cr Milligan said.
“Emergencies are managed until they get transferred. In Springfield, at a guess, it’s less than half an hour to Ipswich Hospital and St Andrew’s and the Mater in Brisbane, the Wesley, the PA and the Royal Brisbane.
“They’re huge hospitals. (Springfield) also has a reliable public transport system. For us we’ve got a 40 minute transit. I know they’re putting in a birthing suite for Springfield. In 2019 we had 791 births registered from our area. Springfield has broken about 1000.”
Cr Milligan said the council had been to the state government to present potential blocks of land but those locations had been knocked back.
“Of that $177 million, a small portion of that, even just $5 million, could have secured at least 20 acres of land,” she said.
“We have no pie in the sky expectation that we’ll have a hospital in two years. But the reality is time isn’t on their side with an ever increasing population and land sales going through the roof.
“By the time the government does decide to purchase a block of land I can assure you it won’t be in the most appropriate location.
“I do not believe the extra 1000 beds that will be at the men’s prison was ever included in the regional master plan. That just tells me it’s poor planning. They’re obviously thinking they’ll just move inmates from that 1000-bed facility to Springfield or Ipswich.
“West Moreton Health have actually predicted by 2036-37 there will be a 285 per cent increase in in-patient hospital demand in the eastern side of this region and a 126 per cent increase in the western side.”
Cr Milligan said she had heard “whispers” that an announcement about funding for a new public hospital in Springfield was imminent in the weeks leading up to it.
“We’re not Springfield and I’m not (Springfield City Group chairman) Maha (Sinnathamby),” she said.
“All the data is there. Time and time again we get told as a local government you need detailed businesses cases, data and statistics to support your argument. West Moreton Health have all that and here we are still waiting.
“They’re not planning. The Catholic education system certainly had vision and secured their block of land for Sophia College (which opened this year).
“How can our Catholic education system have far more vision?
“Communities like the Lockyer Valley are just sitting on the fringes on our knees and asking for the scraps.”
West Moreton is the fastest growing hospital and health service in Queensland, caring for a population base of 313,000 people that is expected to balloon to 588,000 by 2036.
Plans for a $40 million satellite hospital in Ripley is going ahead and the Ipswich Hospital is undergoing expansions.
It is understood there are concerns from within Ipswich City Council that a new public hospital in Springfield has also jumped ahead of plans for the region’s largest health facility - Ipswich Hospital - becoming a tertiary facility, which could lead to delays.
Mayor Teresa Harding did not address any concerns over delays but said the upgrade was crucial for the city.
“At the moment West Moreton Health has got the business case of stage two (of its master plan) going through the normal government process,” she said.
“We’re very focused on the fact that Ipswich Hospital needs to become a tertiary hospital, a 1000-bed hospital.
“We do need that investment. We need to have that specialised cardiac care, orthopaedic care, more complex birthing facilities and a lot more specialised treatment for cancer.
“Over 31 per cent of people who present here have to go outside the region to receive treatment. It’s only going to increase. The biggest need of the state is here.
“Stage two needs to be funded. We need this decision now. Our health workers have been working really hard. Covid has been a tough time. The sooner we get a tertiary hospital the better. A lot of our people are going to the (Princess Alexandra Hospital).
“I think it’s great to see the investment in Springfield. It’s a small start, a drop in the ocean for what we need here in our growing region. It’s very much welcome.”
A West Moreton Health spokesperson said the largest growth in the region was happening in Ripley, Springfield and the Lockyer Valley.
West Moreton Health board chair Michael Willis said demand for healthcare in the region would double along with the population over the next 15 years, and it is expected that people will present with more complex forms of ill health as the population ages.
“Providing safe sustainable care in the future for all West Moreton residents requires that we view this challenge from all angles,” he said.
“We certainly need to build more facilities, but that is only part of the answer to meeting demand.
“We also need to harness research and technology, and we need to work with our partners - including consumers - to redesign inherited ways of delivering healthcare so that our care evolves.”
“This work is going on right now, every day, alongside our master planned capital works projects.
“The $146.3 million first stage of the master plan includes construction of an Acute Mental Health Unit, the building of a 26-bed ward and clinical spaces at Ipswich Hospital, and a stage two business case to determine the right mix of services and facilities needed to transition Ipswich Hospital to a tertiary facility with more specialist services.”
Mr Willis said the two new hospitals in Springfield and Ripley would ease pressure on the emergency department at Ipswich Hospital.
“Our master plan, which is subject to government approval at each stage, recognises the growth in the Lockyer Valley and the need for additional hospital level health services in the future,” he said.
“We know that about one third of West Moreton residents currently travel outside the region to receive healthcare, so our aim is to deliver as much care close to home as we possibly can.
“Our first master plan project was the opening of a state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging suite at Ipswich Hospital in late 2019, which allows 65 people a week to get their diagnostic scan at the hospital instead of travelling elsewhere.”
Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.
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