Why $72m state-promised bed expansion for embattled Gold Coast hospital has been delayed

A chronic shortage in the Gold Coast health system is even worse than first thought. Find out what’s been held up and why

The delayed arrival of 70 much-needed new Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH) beds has blown out by at least six months in a $72m state budget promise fiasco.

GCUH was slated to receive a two-storey inpatient unit with 70 new beds by the second half of this year.

But Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman has revealed construction could not go ahead as originally planned - with a new completion date of mid-2024 - due to “technical design challenges”.

Analysis of the site during the tender phase revealed a wide two-storey unit would physically not fit within the bounds of the existing hospital area.

A Queensland Health statement said: “(The unit will be) delivered across four vertically-stacked levels on a smaller footprint, rather than two levels across a larger footprint.”

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman revealed a state budget promise to add 70 beds to the Gold Coast University Hospital has been delayed. Picture: Nigel Hallett

The unit will extend from the hospital’s Transit Lounge Area at Allsopp Close towards Parklands Drive.

Construction is now underway with the unit expected to be completed by July 2024.

An update on the Gold Coast Health website initially seemed to indicate a plague of delays, showing the 70 beds - whilst earmarked for completion by mid-2024 - would not start being available for use until 2025. The website update said “services commence” for the first 20 in February 2025 with the next 20 within the 2025-26 financial year.

However, a Gold Coast Health spokesperson phoned the Bulletin on Monday to say that information online about the “services commence” dates was incorrectly posted and they would endeavour to supply an official statement. The website update was taken down soon after.

The construction delay comes as the Gold Coast continues to face a chronic bed shortage. In May it forced GCUH to transfer patients to the Sea World Resort for a new radical offsite healthcare model due to overcrowding.

Last year, the Bulletin revealed more than 100 patients were spending up to two years at Coast hospitals because they were unable to access aged or extra care, with emergency department patients forced to sleep on the floor due to a lack of beds.

Opposition Health Minister Ros Bates called the delay a “failure” to deliver critical health infrastructure.

The new unit will be four storeys high and will add 70 overnight beds. Picture Mike Batterham

“This failure is eight years in the making,” Ms Bates said. “The Gold Coast deserves better.”

A Queensland Health spokesman said the delays were due to factors “outside of our control”.

“We are working with Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service to minimise any disruption to services to ensure patients continue to receive a high level of care,” the department said.

The GCUH expansion is one of seven key infrastructure expansions promised under the Palaszczuk Government’s $229.7m Accelerated Infrastructure Delivery Program unveiled in the 2022-23 State Budget. It is expected to deliver 289 beds across southeast Queensland.

Queensland Health said despite the delays and redesign, the Gold Coast expansion will not overblow its $72 million budget.