Canterbury Hospital to handle more emergencies with $6.5m expansion
Canterbury Hospital’s emergency department is being upgraded to the tune of $6.5 million to cope with rising numbers, with work to start later this month.
The Express
Don't miss out on the headlines from The Express. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Canterbury Hospital’s emergency department is being upgraded to the tune of $6.5 million to cope with rising numbers, with work to start later this month.
Sydney Local Health District said there will be no disruption during construction.
The community has time till April 14 to make their submissions.
In 2018, 45,000 patient visited the ED — a 5,000 increase from 2014 — with ambulances making 9600 trips there.
In addition, the hospital handled 98,000 outpatients, 7200 surgical procedures, 1500 births and 22,000 inpatients last year.
The ED expansion — including a new two-storey building — will increase patient accommodation by nine treatment days, a waiting room, consultation room and staff facilities.
In addition to more beds, there will be one new paediatric resuscitation bay; two extra spaces in triage, three additional paediatric patient bays, four additional fast-track chairs and one extra isolation room.
The four parking spots outside the ED will be closed for construction but there will be additional spots available near the main entrance and in the parking area in the middle of the circular driveway.
The upgrade is expected to be completed in 12 months, according to acting general manager of Canterbury Hospital Kiel Harvey.
“Canterbury Hospital is an extremely busy district hospital in one of the fastest growing areas of Sydney, Mr Harvey said.
“In the past five years, the number of people presenting to the emergency department has increased from 40,000 a year to more than 45,000.
“A quarter of those are children, so expanding the ED to include more paediatric bays and child-friendly areas will really make a positive difference.
Canterbury state Labor MP Sophie Cotsis, however, urged more investment into Canterbury Hospital, saying an complete upgrade is well overdue.
Ms Cotsis, who was born in Canterbury Hospital, has been campaigning for an upgrade to the hospital for some time.
“The $6.5 million expansion … will include a new entrance to the ED, and a purpose-built paediatric area with new treatment spaces, resuscitation areas, and specialist isolation areas and amenities for our young patients and their families,” Mr Harvey said.
“The waiting room, triage area, ED Short Stay Unit and Fast Track unit will also be retrofitted to include extra patient bays and fast-track chairs, and a new medical records department will be built above the paediatric area.
“Work is expected to start by the middle of April and will take about 12 months.
“We will ensure it has minimal impact on our patients, staff and visitors.
“Our staff have continued to deliver excellent patient care, despite a significant increase in patient numbers so it is very exciting to be delivering this project.
IN OTHER NEWS
“Our community has fought hard just to get the government to listen to their concerns,” Ms Cotsis said.
“Since the election of the Liberal Government eight years ago, hospital waiting times have continuously increased.
“Data from the Bureau of Health revealed last year that more than one in five patients have had to wait longer than the national benchmark of 4 hours at Canterbury Hospital’s Emergency Department.”
However, a Sydney Local Health Department spokeswoman said the hospital’s performance in the last Bureau of Health Information survey (October to December 2018) “was exceptional, given the recent population increase in the area”.
“During that quarter, almost 11,600 patients were treated (400 more than the same quarter the year before),” the spokeswoman said.
“Despite this increase, 77 per cent of patients were treated within four hours, which is higher than the state average of 72 per cent.
“More than 90 per cent of patients are treated within six hours.
In every triage category, Canterbury Hospital performed equal to, or better, than the state average in median time to start treatment.
The 2018-19 budget for Sydney Local Health District is $1.77 billion ...this is an increase of $82 million on the 2017-2018 annualised budget.”
Ms Cotsis said that she has held countless community forums, street meetings and petitions to secure extra investment into Canterbury Hospital.
“It wasn’t until NSW Labor committed to invest $9 million into an upgrade of Canterbury Hospital’s Emergency Department that prompted the Government to even listen to our community,” she said.
“I will be calling on the new Minister for Health to visit Canterbury Hospital with me to understand the full extent of works and investments required.”
Mr Harvey said he was “exceptionally proud of our hardworking staff who have continued to deliver excellent, timely patient care, despite an increase in the number of patients seeking help”.
“We know this area is rapidly growing and in addition to the $6.5 million expansion of the ED, we have put together a master plan to ensure the hospital meets this community’s needs well into the future.
“For now, I’d like to thank our staff who continually rise to the challenges of an increasing population to deliver exceptional care.”
Feedback can be sent to SLHD-CanterburyFeedback@health.nsw.gov.au or 9787 0151 until April 14.