Former Darling Downs Health chair, union organisers react to new Toowoomba Hospital layout in LNP’s Hospital Rescue Plan

Toowoomba is potentially getting the hospital its health board had asked for five years ago, in a $2bn move hailed as “great news”. Read reactions here:

The former head of the region’s state health body has welcomed the LNP’s plan to relocate all of the new Toowoomba Hospital’s services to Baillie Henderson — in line with his vision for the massive project.

Retired Darling Downs Health chair and former state health minister Mike Horan called the decision by the new state government “great news”, arguing it set the site up to include new services around medical research and training.

It comes as local union organisers issued cautions around the consolidation, arguing the LNP could not be trusted on delivering critical public infrastructure.

Mr Horan, who masterminded DDH’s 2020 business case that argued the new hospital should be completely relocated to the 185-acre site at Cranley, said the two-campus model that was recently quashed was a “plan B’ after Labor didn’t offer enough funding as part of its hospital expansion plan.

Darling Downs Health Service Board chairman Mike Horan reflects on a career in the public eye as he steps down, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“(The business case) showed the amount of money that we needed and having it all out there on the one campus,” he said.

“From memory, our business case showed we needed $1.85bn and we had all the designs done for the hospital and the associated mental health buildings.

“When we got $1.3bn, we had to make a compromise and hang on to the old site and the proposal was that we would run some day services at the old site – 9-to-5 services and keeping the mental health there because they were the youngest buildings on the site.

“That was the simplest and cleanest thing to cut off and compromise — keep the old hospital site and do the mental health services there.”

A flyover of what the new Toowoomba Hospital precinct will look like at Baillie Henderson in Cranley, courtesy of contractor John Holland and Darling Downs Health.

Mr Horan said the LNP’s new slate of upgrades, dubbed the Hospital Rescue Plan, reflected not just the health board’s desires but also the community’s needs.

“It’s great news that the local members have gone out and talked to the executives of the hospital and the board and understand what it is that we wanted,” he said.

“Baillie Henderson (is) a magnificent site – it’s got so much potential with all the growth happening to the north around Highfields in that area and being adjacent to the Toowoomba Bypass, it’s geographically very well located but it’s a beautiful campus (too).

Electrical Trades Union organiser Damian Hewat speaking at the Toowoomba Labour Day march and flag raising, Saturday, May 4, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“It’ll be great, not only for Toowoomba, but for the Darling Downs and the South Burnett and the surrounding areas that we serve (so) I hope that now we can get on with it and get the hospital built as soon as possible.”

However, Electrical Trades Union organiser Damian Hewat questioned the lack of detail in the LNP’s plan, calling the plan “half-arsed”.

“The recently released LNP Hospital Rescue Plan gives no commitment to continued funding of the new Toowoomba Hospital and no specific time frames for completion,” he said.

“It has taken the government six months to come up with a plan and all they have produced is two paragraphs, nine dot points and a guess on a potential cost blow out.

Stop the blame game and political point scoring and commit to planning, funding, and building the new Toowoomba Hospital.

Construction workers, hospital workers and the community are in desperate need of proper commitment not a half-arsed rescue plan.”