Sunshine Coast residents will soon have access to a new private emergency department which will open in early 2018 at The Sunshine Coast Private Hospital at Buderim.
A first for the Sunshine Coast region, the $4 million private Emergency Department (ED) will be a custom-designed facility featuring the latest medical technology.
General Manager, Wallis Westbrook, said the establishment of the specialist service at the hospital will address an unmet community need.
“Over the years we have received countless requests from both patients and doctors for the hospital to establish an emergency department,” Mr Westbrook said.
“We see this as a major step forward for local people as they will have the option to easily access a new specialist health service close to where they work and live,” he said.
The ED will be developed within the existing footprint of the hospital’s Buderim site and will provide high quality emergency care, 365 days a year.
The ED is being designed with patient privacy and comfort as a guiding principle, ensuring that waiting times are kept to a minimum. There are no expected impacts to patients or existing services during the construction phase of the ED.
Highly qualified emergency and critical care medical specialists and nurses will work closely with existing specialty areas, including cardiology and general medicine. The ED will be further supported by the hospital’s existing 24-hour Intensive and Critical Care Units and Cardiac Catheter Labs.
“The hospital and our specialist medical practitioners have together become highly regarded for bringing innovation and new services in healthcare to the people of the Sunshine Coast and we see the delivery of this new service as an important next step for the hospital and the community we serve,” Mr Westbrook said.
The Sunshine Coast Private Hospital is the only not-for-profit provider of private hospital services on the Sunshine Coast.
The private hospital directs any surplus funds back into continuous improvement and expansion of its services.
Mayor Mark Jamieson said the proposed private emergency department would add value to existing high quality health services available in the region and be a welcome additional service for the community.
“The health and wellbeing industry is one of the seven high-value industries identified in the Sunshine Coast Regional Economic Development Strategy (REDS) which will play a pivotal role in building and shaping the new Sunshine Coast economy into the future,” Mayor Jamieson said.
“The expansion of services at The Sunshine Coast Private Hospital, which will create at least 20 new jobs in a variety of clinical and non-clinical roles, is a perfect example of the REDS in action and I congratulate UnitingCare Health and the hospital management on their foresight by providing this service.”
The Sunshine Coast Private Hospital at Buderim is part of UnitingCare Health which also operates private emergency departments at two of its other hospitals; The Wesley Hospital and St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital in Brisbane.
“The shared expertise and experience stands us in good stead to deliver a best-practice private ED for the Sunshine Coast community,” Mr Westbrook said.
“The next step for the ED is to engage high-quality emergency specialists and establish project management and advisory teams, including doctors from across our specialty areas, the Queensland Ambulance Service and local GPs,” he said.
“This expert team will ensure our ED is operational in early 2018 and the quality and compassionate care we are renowned for is maintained.”
“This is a significant moment in the hospital’s journey and we look forward to sharing more detail with the community as our plans and the development process takes shape.”
Pictured L-R: Dr Kit Wong, Cardiologist and Chair of The Sunshine Coast Private Hosptial Medical Advisory Committee, and Wallis Westbrook, General Manager