Pregnant pause as $18m Logan maternity revamp delayed

Women in Logan will have to wait for another year before being able to have their babies in state-of-the-art birthing pools at the local hospital.

Logan Hospital’s maternity ward will undergo a facelift next year with work expected to start this year. AAP /Richard Walker

WOMEN in Logan will have to wait for another year before being able to have their babies in state-of-the-art birthing pools.

Work was due to start on a $12.6 million revamp and expansion of the Logan Hospital maternity ward last year as part of a 2017 state government election promise.

HOSPITAL CARPARK OVERHAUL

HOSPITAL WARD TO BE CRANED IN

LOGANLEA STATION TO MOVE TO HOSPITAL

PYTHON AT LOGAN HOSPITAL

But two years after the announcement, and a further $6.27 million added to the bill last year, the project has been delayed.

The works were only put out for tender last month and final details about the job posted online on January 31.

Along with the birthing pools, the revamped ward will have six more inpatient beds, an extra five birthing suites and 10 additional cots in an expanded special care nursery.

The tenders also called for an access road to be built and upgrades to the fire and life safety systems.

Logan Hospital executive director Noelle Cridland said construction would now start in the middle of this year but the revamped maternity ward would still open for business in 2021 as was always planned.

“The maternity inpatient ward will be the first to open in 2021, with the other services opening as they are completed between 2021 and 2022,” Ms Cridland said.

“The project is currently in the detailed design phase.”

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State Opposition health spokesman Ros Bates labelled the delay as “a terrible delivery”.

Opposition Health spokesman Ros Bates said the overhaul was a “terrible delivery”.

She said it was disappointing the promised upgrades were years away from completion.

“The government is great at promises, but terrible at delivery and unfortunately, it’s the families in the Logan area who will pay the price,” she said.

“This should have been a priority commitment for Labor, instead of wasting taxpayers’ money renaming hospitals or justifying a bad decision to give a milk contract to overseas companies.

“Mums and families in the Logan area deserve much better than another broken health promise and I’m calling for an apology.”

Local MP Shannon Fentiman said the criticism was unfounded.

“Logan Hospital is getting $281 million of expansion works, the biggest hospital expansion in Queensland’s history,” she said.

“It’s just had a 28-bed medical ward craned in, and a new mental health space and soon a maternity ward expansion.”