The Buderim Private Hospital Emergency Centre is the first private emergency centre to open on the Sunshine Coast and will provide specialist emergency care to patients—including to patients without health insurance—24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Craig Barke, Chief Executive Officer of UnitingCare Queensland, said the hospital has a strong and proud history of providing personalised care to the local community.
“The hospital was established by the community, for the community and continues to work with local people to ensure it meets local needs,” Mr Barke said.
“As a private, not-for-profit hospital we are dedicated to delivering professional, compassionate, values-based care to improve the health and wellbeing of people living on the Sunshine Coast.”
“The new Emergency Centre builds on the hospital’s long legacy of providing high quality care to those that need it the most.”
“As a non-profit organisation owned by the Uniting Church, UnitingCare Queensland has a proud tradition of helping the communities we serve and investing surplus funds into providing services like the Emergency Centre,” he said.
Wallis Westbrook, General Manager of the Buderim Private Hospital, said the launch of the Emergency Centre builds on the hospital’s commitment to bring new innovations in healthcare to the people of the Sunshine Coast.
“We anticipate the Emergency Centre will be well supported by our community who will value the greater choice of emergency care and our dedication to providing fast, quality care from the heart,” he said.
“We are looking forward to opening next week and offering specialist emergency care to those presenting at the Emergency Centre as well as those patients who need to be admitted to our hospital under the expert care of our experienced doctors.”
Buderim Private Hospital has teamed up with independent medical specialist emergency group, Care 24/7 to deliver the service. Care 24/7 already provides private medical emergency care to other major hospitals, including Calvary Wakefield Hospital in Adelaide.
Dr Sharad Pandit, Director of Care 24-7, said intense planning for the Emergency Centre has been finalised and the Emergency Centre’s preparations are now complete.
“We have been working closely with GPs, the Queensland Ambulance Service and other key community members to ensure readiness for the new Emergency Centre,” Dr Pandit said.
“Next week heralds an exciting new chapter for Sunshine Coast residents who can benefit from our state-of-the-art new facility and our continuous commitment to providing compassionate, specialised emergency care by doctors who specialise in emergency medicine,” he said.
Buderim Private Hospital has been serving the Sunshine Coast community since 1980 and is part of UnitingCare Queensland. UnitingCare Queensland is the health and community service provider of the Uniting Church that supports thousands of people every day of the year through its well-known and respected services including child and family services, UnitingCare Health hospitals, Blue Care’s aged care services, and ARRCS (Australian Regional and Remote Community Services) in the Northern Territory.
More information about the Emergency Centre is available by visiting buderimprivatehospital.com.au/emergency
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Snapshot of the Emergency Centre
- Opening to the public at 8am, Wednesday 22 August
- Open 24/7
- $4 million state-of-the-art facility
- Nine patient bays, including a dedicated resuscitation space
- Minimal wait times
- Free parking
- Approximately 50 employees, including doctors, nurses and administrative staff
- Everyone is welcome at the Emergency Centre even those without private health insurance
- Standard out-of-pocket fee will be $310, which includes X-ray and blood tests
- Private health fund members who require admission can be admitted directly to the hospital and access its leading specialists
- Patients without private health insurance who require admission can self-fund their hospital stay or opt to be transferred to a public hospital
- No out-of-pocket fees for WorkCover and eligible DVA patients
- Located centrally on the Sunshine Coast, onsite at Buderim Private Hospital
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Pictured from left to right: Dr Sharad Pandit (Director of Care 24-7, Craig Barke, CEO of UnitingCare Queensland, Vanessa Hutfield (Clinical Nurse Manager, Emergency Centre), Wallis Westbrook (General Manager, Buderim Private Hospital) and Chris Townend (UnitingCare Queensland Board Member).