Qld election 2024: Latest round of satellite hospitals more expensive
They were already a controversial election pitch, now Queensland’s satellite hospitals are facing a new problem that the government says is out of its hands.
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Labor’s latest round of promised satellite hospitals are 45 per cent more expensive than those completed just a year ago, with the government blaming rising construction costs.
Premier Steven Miles and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman have so far promised four satellite hospitals should Labor secure an against-the-odds fourth term in government, with the government expected to pledge three more before October 26.
The promised facilities in Mackay, Beenleigh, Hervey Bay and Rockhampton cost $78.3m each, a whopping 45 per cent or $24.5m more than each of the seven existing satellite hospitals on average.
Seven existing satellite hospitals spread across the southeast — which opened between August 2023 and July — cost a combined $377m, with the ultimate price tag itself a 42 per cent blowout compared to the figure promised at the 2020 state election.
A state government spokeswoman said it had been widely canvassed that construction costs had escalated since 2020 due to factors including supply-chain impacts.
She also pointed to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, released last month, which showed construction costs for non-residential buildings had risen 27.1 per cent since September 2020.
The cost of building materials like concrete, timber, plaster and plumbing products had also skyrocketed.
All four promised satellite hospitals are in Labor-held electorates, with three of those — Mackay, Rockhampton, and Macalister — on margins between 6.7 per cent and 9.5 per cent.
Mr Miles and Ms Fentiman, in Rockhampton on Tuesday, spruiked satellite hospitals as a proven way to alleviate pressure on local hospitals.
“Our hospitals are under pressure – exacerbated by the rapid growth of our state and the decline of primary health care,” Mr Miles said.
“My government has proven that publicly owned, free satellite hospitals work in reducing pressure on our emergency departments and giving families greater access to care when and where they need it.”
Ms Fentiman said Central Queensland “absolute deserves” the facilities the southeast had to take pressure off hospitals.
The state government is expected to pledge about three more satellite hospitals before election next month, likely to be located at Cairns, Townsville and Caloundra.
The election promises come weeks after the Australian Medical Association Queensland ratcheted up calls for satellite hospitals to be renamed, slamming the term as confusing.
The latest health data revealed more critically ill patients were showing up to the facilities seeking help for ailments which required emergency care.
AMAQ president Dr Nick Yim in August also called for a major education drive to inform Queenslanders of where they should head — a GP clinic, urgent care clinic, satellite hospital or the emergency department — ahead of new walk-in nurse-led clinics opening in October.
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