New 32-bed ward at Royal Darwin Hospital in 2023 budget

A 32-bed ward will be built at Royal Darwin Hospital, while other previously spruiked health projects have taken a step forward. See what the 2023 budget includes.

Royal Darwin Hospital is set to receive a new 32-bed multipurpose ward in the 2023 budget. Picture: Che Chorley

About $2bn will be spent on health in the Territory in the new budget, the government has announced.

A new 32-bed multipurpose ward tops the list of infrastructure promises, while previously announced projects have taken a step forward.

They include a new forensic mortuary, pathology and bereavement facility at Royal Darwin Hospital and a new health centre at Gunbalanya.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles also said $1m would be spent on planning for the future of the Territory’s health services.

“This tower was built in the 1970s … (it) needs to be replaced at some point into the future,” she said at RDH on Monday.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles speaking with NT Health acting regional executive director Dr Luke Butcher on the 2023 budget. Picture: Annabel Bowles

“We do need to think about the plans going forward, and we need to have a specific team focused on that.”

Ms Fyles said the redevelopment of RDH would need significant commonwealth investment.

“After seven years of being a health minister, I won’t be the health minister that opens that tower but I want to be the health minister that has the vision to deliver that,” she said.

Ms Fyles said the new $25m multipurpose ward would be built under a “rapid” construction model but ruled out demountables, confirming it would be a fixed facility.

“I’m hopeful in the next 12 to 18 months we would see that facility,” she said.

“The 32 beds is significant – this main tower has around 280 beds.

“All of the beds at Palmerston (Regional Hospital) are online – that’s a 116 bed facility.”

No additional money has been announced for mental health services, despite this publication finding as many as 20 mental health patients in the NT have been intubated in the past two years due to bed shortages.

The Territory government is also spending $57m on a new mental health facility at Royal Darwin Hospital. Picture: Supplied.

However a new 18-bed mental health facility at RDH is under construction and due to open mid next year.

The Gunner government spruiked the Gunbalanya health clinic design as an election promise in the lead up to August 2020.

The 2023 budget puts the project at $20m of new money, however it remains unclear how much has already been spent on the design.

It is set to include a morgue, emergency bays, renal facilities and consulting rooms.

Design consultancy tenders opened for the new forensic mortuary, pathology and bereavement facility at RDH in December last year.

The building will be used for coronial autopsies and forensic pathology work, as well as provide a culturally-appropriate and private space for grieving loved ones to identify and view bodies.

Alice Springs, Katherine, Gove and Royal Darwin hospitals will share $37.3m to upgrade their central sterilisation services, while Gove District Hospital will also get a $20m fire safety systems upgrade.

About $9m will be spent over three years on new machinery, replacing worn equipment like ultrasound scanners, CT scanners and magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs).