SE Qld needs 55 hospitals, 70 medical centres by 2046: Property Council Australia

At least 55 new hospitals and 70 medical centres will need to be built in the southeast over the next two decades, a damning report has found.

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital is Queensland’s largest.

At least 55 new hospitals and 70 medical centres will need to be built in the southeast over the next two decades if Queenslanders want adequate access to healthcare beyond 2046, a damning report has found.

Queensland’s infrastructure challenges have been laid bare in a new report by the Property Council Australia, which has found a minimum of 4200 public hospital beds, 3000 private beds, 560 mental health beds and 2200 extra GPs will be required to service the state’s mammoth forecast population growth.

With six million residents expected to call Queensland home by 2046 – 20 per cent of whom will be aged over 65 – the southeast will need at least 11 new public hospitals, 17 private hospitals, 27 day hospitals, 11 mental health residencies and 70 medical centres.

According to the Australian Private Hospitals Association, more than 70 private hospitals have closed in Australia over the last five years, placing more pressure on the public health sector and forcing taxpayers to fund health care gaps.

While the report acknowledged challenging construction costs faced by both the public and private sectors, it said Queensland’s health build lacked a co-ordinated infrastructure plan for the state’s future population needs.

The Property Council has warned that substantial investment will be needed across all southeast communities to maintain equitable access to healthcare and has urgently called on the state government to partner with the private sector to develop a long term infrastructure plan.

Property Council Queensland deputy executive director Allan McNeil said the report’s stark findings proved the government could not go it alone and would need to co-operate with the private sector, including sharing the construction workforce.

“More than half of the hospitals needed to support the growth of the region expected to be delivered by the private sector,” he said.

“Queensland Health’s current pipeline of projects, combined with the private hospitals, housing and other infrastructure needed means there is simply not enough people to build it all.

“This is seeing private health projects face increased construction costs as they compete with the public health sector for the same pool of construction workers needed to build the projects.

“Rather than competition across the public and private sector, we need a co-ordinated approach across all levels of government and industry if we are ever going to deliver the hospitals and health services our growing region needs.”