‘No capacity’: Minister lays blame on Labor for Cairns Hospital’s health woes
Health minister Tim Nicholls has conceded it will be years before Cairns Hospital has a new helipad with Labor’s projected $378m infrastructure blowout also stalling construction of a new surgical centre.
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Health minister Tim Nicholls has conceded it will be years before Cairns Hospital has a new helipad with Labor’s projected $378m infrastructure blowout also stalling construction of a new surgical centre.
The landing site, located at the northern end of the popular Cairns Esplanade, has posed safety concerns for years with the LNP committing to finding a safer location away from tourists and pedestrians last month.
The preferred option would be to land helicopters on the roof of a hospital building, Mr Nicholls said.
But none of the hospital’s current infrastructure can support an aircraft landing on its rooftop.
“One of the first questions I got asked when I got this job was, ‘What’s the story with the helipad?’” the minister said.
“I got the run-around for a while until it became clear to me that the helipad wasn’t going to be relocated because there’s no money.”
Mr Nicholls defended the decision to hold off on building a four-theatre, 32-bed surgical centre following the release of the Sangster report which projected a $7bn overspend for major health projects across the state.
“All the money had been spent,” he said. “There was no capacity to build the surgical centre, the site for it hadn’t been secured and the plans hadn’t been finalised.
“The former government failed to secure an appropriate site for the surgical centre and the additional beds that are needed there.
“There was nothing but a vague promise that was unfunded and that’s what the Sangster report clearly demonstrates.”
The LNP is now focused on developing a new plan for the hospital with the existing helipad to remain in operation until an alternative can be identified.
“Having a plan that is credible and you can be measured against is better than what was previously offered which was nothing,” Mr Nicholls said.
“There was no plan.
“There wasn’t a parcel of land, there wasn’t a completed plan, nor the funding to do what Labor said they were going to do. How were they going to deliver it? It was never deliverable.
“There was an artist’s impression but not much more.”
Member for Cairns Michael Healy said recently he would challenge the state government to deliver the desperately needed infrastructure.
“They haven’t provided any future dates and future funding,” he said.
“This should be enormously concerning for anyone in the Far North. What that tells me is it’s a cut.
“We’re a growing population and yet they’re pulling resources out of here and giving them to the southeast.”
Since winning government, the LNP has opened the new mental health unit and committed to refurbishing Cairns Hospital’s B and D blocks, Mr Nicholls said.
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