Latest plans for Canberra Hospital Expansion released for public comment

The ACT Government is one step closer to delivering a bigger and better Canberra Hospital with the release of the Development Application for six weeks of public consultation.

Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith said consumer, community and clinician engagement has been critical throughout the project and the Development Application (DA) reflects feedback received over more than a year of engagement.

“We’ve made design and scope updates over the life of the Canberra Hospital Expansion project and the designs released today follow a ten-week pre-DA consultation period earlier in the year,” said Minister Stephen-Smith.

“Through our extensive engagement with consumers, clinicians and the wider community we heard about the importance of accessibility and welcoming spaces for patients, families and carers. Feedback during pre-DA consultation also confirmed the importance of green spaces and well-designed indoor and outdoor areas that provide opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to get a break from the natural stress of being in hospital.

“We also know that the most important function of a hospital is to provide outstanding patient care, and we’ve been working closely with clinicians and consumers in designing the clinical spaces throughout the building.”

New or improved features of the design include:

  • An increase of 33 Emergency Department treatment spaces compared with earlier designs, bringing the total additional spaces to 72
  • An additional 8 Coronary Care Unit beds
  • A café terrace and more outdoors spaces for patients, visitors, and staff
  • Short-term parking and dedicated pick up and drop off zones at both the Hospital Road and Yamba Drive (Bateson Road) entrances
  • A repositioned surgical recovery area to provide more natural light for recovering patients

“The new facility will be located at the heart of the campus and is designed to deliver high-quality public spaces and facilities for patients, staff and visitors.

“The Welcome Hall will improve the arrival experience and help with wayfinding, while also separating the movement of patients to support patient privacy and dignity,” said Minister Stephen-Smith.

Major Projects Canberra Chief Projects Officer, Duncan Edghill, said that the designs were refined further through public comments received during the pre-DA consultation period.

“We identified several key areas of priority to the community. These included comments in relation to the Emergency Department, ensuring adequate seating and amenity for visitors, ensuring the building is easy to navigate and car parking.

“The design addresses these themes so as to deliver a world-class facility for patients, staff and visitors alike,” said Mr Edghill.

The release of the new plans for the main facility come on top of other recent milestones for the Canberra Hospital Expansion Project including the completion of refurbishments to Building 4 late last year, relocation of services under Hospital Road, the delivery of a new Child at Risk Health Unit in April, the opening of Building 9 this week as a new patient and carer accommodation facility, and the completion of the new Building 8 later this month.

Minister for Health Rachel-Stephen Smith said she was pleased to see the Canberra Hospital Expansion Project was progressing on schedule.

“The refurbishments of Buildings 3, 4 and 9 and the completion of Building 8 are more important milestones towards delivering all elements of the Canberra Hospital Expansion project in 2024.

“The completion of these early works means that these vital community services will not be disrupted when demolition commences on Buildings 5 and 24 which will, in turn, allow preparatory site works to commence for the main Emergency, Surgical and Critical Healthcare building.

“We know that parking on the Canberra Hospital campus remains an issue, which is why we are also building a car park with 1100 spaces for hospital staff on the former CIT site,” said Minister Stephen-Smith.

Canberrans can have their say on the Development Application for the new Emergency, Surgical and Critical Healthcare building until 18 June 2021, at www.planning.act.gov.au.

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