Tugun Satellite Hospital: When new Gold Coast health facility will open
It has been revealed when the Gold Coast’s newest public hospital will open its doors despite delays and cost blowouts. It’s much sooner than you’d expect.
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A controversial medical facility is expected to open by the end of the year with the state saying it will service close to 500 patients a week.
Speaking to media at the construction site on Wednesday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the Tugun Satellite Hospital, once operational, will service up to 490 patients per week that would have otherwise inundated the Gold Coast’s overflowing emergency departments.
Announced in 2021, the facility is one of seven satellite hospitals to be built across the state.
“It will be for walk-in urgent care,” the Premier reaffirmed.
“They will be able to have renal dialysis, medical treatments and outpatient appointments. This will include a minor injury and illness clinic for walk in urgent care.”
“These satellite hospitals are also part of our plan to ease the pressure off our hospitals.”
All seven facilities were initially expected to open May 10 this year, however delays to construction mean they are now expected to become operational by 2024.
Despite promising that the facilities would arrive “on time and on budget”, the delays have seen the project cost blowout to $370 million from the initial $260 million estimate.
“My understanding is that most of them will be opened either this year or next year, and they’re being built pretty quickly,” the Premier said.
However State Member for Currumbin Laura Gerber previously raised concerns that the new facilities were “deceptively” named.
The new satellite hospitals will not have beds, emergency departments or operate 24/7.
Fellow Gold Coast MP and Opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates backed her LNP colleague, saying: “These are not hospitals. They are multipurpose health centres and that’s what they should be called.”
“If you’re down at Tugun and your father has a heart attack and you waste valuable moments taking them to the Tugun satellite hospital, you’ll have to wait for a paramedic to transfer you to the Gold Coast University Hospital. It wastes precious time.”
The Premier’s updates on the satellite facilities comes as new health figures released for a Question on Notice show 1270 patients waited 24 hours or longer in Queensland emergency departments in January 2023 – an increase of 254 patients waiting for the same time period since November last year.
On the Gold Coast, 81 patients waited 24 hours or longer at GCUH and 13 people at Robina Hospital’s ED in January 2023 – an increase of 36 and 9 respectively since November last year.
Queensland has also recorded the worst national rate of ambulance ramping outside hospitals – at 41 per cent.
The latest Queensland Ambulance Service Significant Incident Report also revealed at least two Queenslanders died while waiting for ambulance to arrive – including a Gold Coast man who waited 1 hour and 30 minutes for paramedics after suffering a fall. He died by the time paramedics arrived.
Chair of Gold Coast Health Ian Langdon said the new facilities would play a “very important” role in alleviating both ED and ambulance pressure.
“A lot of people don’t realise that Gold Coast University Hospital has got the busiest emergency department not just in Queensland but in Australia.
“We have over 5000 Ambulance arrivals at our hospitals each and every month.
“So facilities like this are going to make an enormous difference to us.”
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