$550m deposit allows start on new women’s hospital

A ‘down payment’ of $550m in the budget will enable a start to be made on a new Adelaide Wo­men’s and Children’s Hospital.

A “down payment” of $550 million in the budget will enable a start to be made on a new wo­men’s and children’s hospital adjoining the Royal ­Adelaide Hospital so it can be completed by 2025-26.

It was originally envisaged that the hospital would be finished by 2024 at an estimated cost of about $1.5 billion, although the final cost will not be known until a business case is finalised later this year.

“We don’t know yet what the final estimated cost will be,” said Treasurer Rob Lucas, who described the $550m as a down payment. “We will work through that process in the coming months.”

Health and Wellbeing Minister Stephen Wade said “this will be a state-of-the-art, world-class hospital for families, but we are also determined it will deliver value for the taxpayer”.

“We have already collaborated with a range of experts so far and we are committed to continuing with a consultative process as we work towards the detailed planning phase. We are also committed to continuing to work with our frontline doctors and nurses to ­ensure we give them the right tools to provide world-class care well into the future.”

As well as cash for the hospital, the budget provides $537m in new expenditure. It also has $264m previously announced for stage three of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital redevelopment and $97m for Modbury Hospital for upgrades and new services, including a new acute surgical ward for complex elective surgery, an acute medical unit and a palliative care facility.

The budget also commits $69.1m over four years to reactivating the Repatriation General Hospital site as a health precinct, including $30m from the federal government.

Other new spending initiatives were relatively modest, against a background of SA Health overspending its 2018-19 budget by an estimated $95m.

A statewide eating disorder service received $5m and another $5m will pay for off-site storage and transport of paper medical records at the RAH.

The Adelaide Advertiser