Robbie Katter pushes for new Charters Towers Hospital

The Charters Towers Hospital is so old, the floor physically can’t handle modern radiology equipment, and the administrators used to argue about the correct amount of alcohol to give to patients.

Charters Towers Hospital in 1891 on Gill Street. It contained a main brick building, a wooden ‘fever ward’, the Williams Ward and doctor’s residence.

Problems with overcrowding and a lack of capacity aren’t new to Charters Towers Hospital.

In 1891 a letter complaining about the hospital was sent to Brisbane complaining patients were living like “fighting cocks” in the main ward, which was regularly exceeding capacity.

Now, 140 years after the first brick was laid, Member for Traeger Robbie Katter says it’s high time a new building was delivered.

“The government are getting quotes on new radiology equipment and they have to rebuild the floor because it can’t handle the weight of the CT scanner,” Mr Katter said.

Alongside the CT scanner, Queensland Health have also promised to deliver new dialysis services.

Acting Townsville Hospital and Health Service chief executive Stephen Eaton said in October 2022 Charters Towers was promised its first ever CT scanner to help develop a medical imaging service in the Flinders Hwy town.

“The total investment in the project will be around $4.5 million,” Mr Eaton said.

“A purpose-built space will be constructed for the CT scanner in a new building which will be added to the Charters Towers Hospital.”

Queensland Health did not dispute the claim the old floor was unable to handle the CT scanner.

In 2020, Charters Towers resident Patricia Kennedy was travelling to Townsville for life saving dialysis treatment. She supported calls at the time from KAP's Robbie Katter to have dialysis in Charters Towers. Dialysis was promised, but delayed several times by the QLD Government. PICTURE: MATT TAYLOR.

Mr Katter said the $4.5 million spend will bring the hospital to a more acceptable standard - but only in the interim.

“Mainly I’m hearing complaints from people working within the hospital,” Mr Katter said.

“They tell me how difficult it is to work there. A building that old presents a whole heap of problems like the size of the rooms, asbestos, cabling, floor load and the overall configuration is highly inefficient.”

Stepping back in history, interesting details about the Charters Towers Hospital can be found in a Christmas Eve 1891 edition of the Northern Mining Register.

An unnamed reporter said the hospital was being administered “almost perfectly” and the only hiccup was a brief argument about generous grog allocations to patients.

“In the olden days one querulous lot of committee-men did take exception to the fact that the liquor bill for one month, with only four patients, was £9 10s,” he wrote.

“But these little things were not allowed to endanger the harmony of the occasion.”

The liquor bill would’ve been close to $2000 in modern currency.

Charters Towers Hospital turns 140, Katter calls again for a new building in light of extreme Olympics spending by Queensland Government.

The reporter detailed just how much money was spent by the hospital - dismissing the “fighting cocks” letter sent to a Brisbane contemporary as untrue when the spending figures were laid bare.

Mr Katter has vowed to write to Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath demanding a meeting with her to discuss the hospital and Traeger’s overall health infrastructure.

Mr Katter said for five years now he’s been pushing for a new hospital, but was always told there was no money in the budget.

“Now the Government is spending $2.7 billion to add a few new seats to the Gabba Stadium in Brisbane - clearly, money is not an issue anymore,” he said.

The Queensland Government plans to knock down and rebuild the Gabba Stadium for use in the Brisbane Olympics.

“For a fraction of that cost, Charters Towers could be delivered a new hospital,” Mr Katter said.

Also looming over the region is the congestion at Townsville University Hospital, which went into ‘tier three’ multiple times in 2022 as patient demand outstripped bed supply.

THHS chief executive Stephen Eaton confirmed Townsville University Hospital has entered ‘tier three’ 19 times so far this year.

Originally published as Robbie Katter pushes for new Charters Towers Hospital