A $340 million surgical and rehabilitation service taking shape in Brisbane will provide Queenslanders with more specialist public health services.
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Steven Miles said the new Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS) at Herston will expand services for people needing complex rehabilitation for major trauma, brain injury and burns.
“This is an example of how the Palaszczuk Government is delivering for the future healthcare needs for Queenslanders with a new 182-bed specialist public health facility,” Mr Miles said.
“STARS brings together complex rehabilitation, specialist elective surgery and planned procedures, and outpatient services under one roof to increase access to specialist public healthcare and decrease waiting times for treatment.
“Not only will the additional beds at STARS support new specialist services, it will also create extra capacity at RBWH and other public hospitals.
“The first patient will be seen in late 2020.”
Member for McConnel Grace Grace said reaching the halfway mark of the upgrade was very exciting.
“This new state-of-the-art facility will help meet the current and future demand for specialist health services,” she said.
“This is part of our Government’s commitment to expanding and improving health services across Queensland.”
Metro North Hospital and Health Service Acting Chief Executive Jackie Hanson said STARS will provide an opportunity to change the way we deliver healthcare for Queenslanders.
“STARS couples complex rehabilitation with specialist elective surgical services and planned procedures across nine speciality areas including burns, urology, gynaecology, orthopaedics, and ear, nose and throat services,” Ms Hanson said.
“Clinicians at STARS will provide a high level of individualised care for patients and deliver exceptional health outcomes by working alongside researchers and put solutions into action in real-time.
“As a greenfield digital hospital, innovation at STARS will transform the way clinicians deliver care by allowing data analysis at the bedside for informed decision making.
“STARS will be a great addition to the world-class health, education and research facilities at the Herston Health Precinct,” Ms Hanson said.
STARS Executive Director Debbie McNamara said that STARS will be a great addition to the quality healthcare already provided by Metro North and will help meet the growing health service demand for specialist care in and around Brisbane.
“STARS will have 100 beds for rehabilitation and the extensive gym and therapy spaces combined are about the same size of an Olympic swimming pool,” Ms McNamara said.
“It will feature seven operating theatres and three endoscopy theatres and its high-throughput for low-acuity treatment model will greatly increase patient access to elective surgical and endoscopy procedural services.
“STARS will be operated by Metro North and we look forward to our first patients arriving with the relocation of existing services to STARS in late 2020.”
STARS is the first health building to be delivered as part of the $1.1 billion Herston Quarter Redevelopment Project partnership between Metro North and Australian Unity.
