Key milestone reached in planning for new Toowoomba Hospital at old Baillie Henderson site

It’s been on the cards for years. Now with several major approvals under its belt, the new Toowoomba Hospital is closer than ever.

Darling Downs Health and Queensland Health are preparing a funding submission to the State Government to get a new hospital built in Toowoomba.

The business case for the approximately $1 billion project has reached a key milestone, being approved by both the board of Building Queensland and the Queensland Government Investment Assurance Committee.

The project is firmly on the government’s radar, which has Darling Downs Health chair Mike Horan feeling optimistic about the submission.

“The government does mention both Toowoomba and Bundaberg Hospital as two major capital works projects that are in the agenda, that makes me very hopeful,” he said.

“I would feel that the only impediments may well be funds and time – but a project like this will be an unbelievable boost to the economy of Southern Queensland.

“It’s very close to being shovel ready, which is what the government is looking for, to undertake projects that can help rebuild the economy following the COVID-19 impact of the last 12 months.”

Mr Horan said there were two “really good reasons” for the funding submission to get approval.

“The first is the absolute urgency – the old hospital is absolutely crammed and staff are working above and beyond to increase the ever increasing numbers of people in the old facilities there,” he said.

The new hospital will be built on the 74 hectare Baillie Henderson site, “a strategic position coming off the northern approaches of the entrance to the city and the (Toowoomba Bypass)”, which Mr Horan said was “designed to be an absolute clinical standout for an inland hospital”.

“In terms of the economy and what a project like this can do, this will be one of the biggest boosts ever to this region over about a period of five or six years,” he said.

“It will be literally hundreds if not thousands of people working on the project

“We had up to 200 a day on the ($91 million Kingaroy Hospital project), this one is 10 times that.”

Mr Horan said the redeveloped site would be the hub of an “enormous growth in medical and clinical industries”.

“We’re planning for this hospital to be a holistic health hub, where not only it would be a first class clinical hospital with cancer centre and mental health unit and birthing units and all the other parts, but also the centre of a health hub – with rehabilitation, sports medicine, research, medical industries, helicopter service retrievals and specialist care to all the region.

“It’s got a tremendous amount going for it.”