New Toowoomba Hospital to be a game-changer for region

TOOWOOMBA could soon be home to a host of world-leading medical technology companies if an ambitious plan for a new hospital precinct comes to fruition.

GAME CHANGING PLAN: Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service board chair Mike Horan says the new Toowoomba Hospital, which will be built at the Baillie Henderson site, could include an area for medical technology companies to set up. Picture: Bev Lacey

TOOWOOMBA could soon be home to a host of world-leading medical technology companies if an ambitious plan for a new hospital precinct comes to fruition.

The Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service is working on a business case for a new public hospital to be built in Toowoomba, to replace the existing hospital which is quite often at capacity.

The game-changing plan would see a new public hospital built on the outskirts of the city, at the site of the Baillie Henderson mental health hospital at Cranley.

The site is also currently used as an administration centre for the DDHHS and the service has several units, such as the rehabilitation unit, operating at the site.

"Sitting on 188 acres, the whole site can be a health precinct for the city, as not only will we have a hospital, but medical education facilities there, accommodation for people, health facilities for people to train and exercise and keep fit," DDHHS chair Mike Horan said.

"We can have sport medicine clinics, rehabilitation clinics, a little shopping village with a lecture theatre, separate buildings for dental, day surgery, renal dialysis, an eye hospital.

"There will be a fitness area for staff, so they can go walking, jogging, pilates. It will be a very modern place, perhaps a childcare centre for staff.

"Really the world is your oyster for this site."

Mr Horan said he envisioned private business also setting up within the facility.

"It may well be that companies that are involved in developing medical software, or medical instruments, or (pharmaceuticals) may want to have their headquarters or satellite of business based there," he said.

"The fact we have an airport with daily links to Sydney and Melbourne makes a huge difference to the connectivity of Toowoomba.

"That makes it more amenable for places to establish here because people want to go back to family. The airport just opens a lot of possibilities."

Mr Horan said there were also plans to open a medical museum at the precinct.

"The Toowoomba Hospital Foundation is looking at establishing a museum there," he said.

"That could compliment the Cobb and Co Museum and the Transport Museum (in Gatton) and make for a museum trail throughout the city."

Ahead of the new hospital being built, the campus will also play host to a new student training facility.

"We've entered into a partnership with the University of Queensland, the University of Southern Queensland and South West Health to from a university department of rural health called Southern Queensland Rural Health," Mr Horan said.

"It won't just specifically be training medical students, but also nursing and allied health students in rural health."

The Queensland Government last year allocated $9 million to the business case for the new hospital precinct. The business case is expected to be completed in March next year.

A decision is still yet to be made on what would happen to the current Toowoomba Hospital if the new Toowoomba Hospital is built.

According to Australia's leading demographer Bernard Salt, healthcare is the number-one employer in the Toowoomba region, adding 9000 new jobs to the sector between 2000 and 2019.

Mr Salt said he predicted it would remain one of the biggest employment sectors into the future.

"When you look at the Australian figures as a whole, healthcare is always number one across the country," Mr Salt said.

Mr Salt said he expected that to continue to be the case.

Mr Horan said it was becoming more and more urgent for Toowoomba to get a new hospital.

"The current existing Toowoomba Hospital is almost full to capacity in terms of what we need for beds, what we need for surgeries, what we need for the emergency department and many other sections," Mr Horan said.

The Toowoomba Hospital is the major public hospital not only for Toowoomba, but surrounding towns in south-west Queensland.

"With our emergency department, in recent times we've added another five cubicles to it, but already we can see we are getting close to needing more," he said.

"We're treating up to 180 patients a day in ED, mostly they are in the higher categories, so heart attacks, complicated illnesses.

"It's at absolute full throttle and the staff are magnificent, but it demonstrates the urgent need for the new hospital."

Mr Horan said the Queensland Department of Health had recognised the need Toowoomba had for a new hospital.

"Because they have given us money for that business case," he said.

"They recognise the magnificent job our staff are doing, particularly at Toowoomba where demand is so high."

To relieve some of the stress on bed numbers at the Toowoomba Hospital the DDHHS has opened a rehabilitation ward and step down ward at the Baillie Henderson campus.

"We've also put a demountable 12-day ward in at the Toowoomba Hospital, attached to the hospital building," Mr Horan said.

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Tobi Loftus

Originally published as New Toowoomba Hospital to be a game-changer for region