New Millmerran Hospital near Toowoomba still at design stage with Qld government despite FKG Group awarded contract

Planning is still under way on a small town’s new hospital, two months after the Queensland government awarded a $28m contract for its construction. New designs here:

The design and plans for the new Millmerran Hospital southwest of Toowoomba have still yet to be approved by the state government.

Queensland Health has revealed the project is still at the “design stage”, with a ministerial infrastructure designation (MID) before the office of State Development Minister Steven Miles.

It comes more than two months after the government and local health board Darling Downs Health awarded the $28.5m construction contract to Toowoomba firm FKG Group.

A Queensland Health spokeswoman confirmed the MID application was still active.

Concept art for the new Millmerran Hospital, which is part of a ministerial infrastructure designation application to the state government.

“The Millmerran Hospital project is in the design stage and any outcomes from the MID will be incorporated,” she said.

According to the plans lodged with the MID, the new hospital will be built next to the old 1500 sqm facility on Commens Street, on land currently occupied by the existing helipad.

It is understood the old hospital will be demolished.

Proposed designs indicate the facility will have an emergency department, an eight-bed inpatient wing, non-acute spaces and a special wing for five residential aged care patients.

The documents also revealed the hospital will be staffed by more than 40 workers, with 10 assigned to each shift.

Concept art for the new Millmerran Hospital, which is part of a ministerial infrastructure designation application to the state government.

“The existing Millmerran Hospital and Multipurpose health service is operating out of an aged building that has a high maintenance burden and has been identified under the Building Rural and Remote Health Program for upgrade,” the report said.

“The proposed development will replace the existing building and deliver contemporary clinical spaces that are up to the current health care standards.”

Concept art for the new Millmerran Hospital, which is part of a ministerial infrastructure designation application to the state government.

Darling Downs Health chair Mike Horan said he hoped to see the hospital completed by early 2025.

“I’m confident that our strategic and service planning has identified the correct priority areas for us to direct capital funding to, such as the Millmerran Multipurpose Health Service,” he said.

“We are on the cusp of several legacy projects commencing across our health service which have been diligently planned and worked on for years by Darling Downs Health leadership.”