The new Toowoomba hospital, which is now well under construction, will open two years later than originally planned.
The first stage of the new facility on the Baillie Henderson campus is now set to be completed in 2029, two years after the original 2027 planned completion date.
However, in a revised master plan unveiled by Health Minister Tim Nicholls this week, the new hospital will now include 538 overnight beds, an 84-bed acute mental health facility, a multi-storey car park and expanded clinical services.
The revised plan includes 118 additional hospital beds and a mental health facility at the site. Under the previous plan, the mental health facilities were earmarked to remain at its current location in Pechey Street.
In August Mr Nicholls said the State Government had listened to local clinicians and health workers to ensure the new hospital would provide all the services needed for the growing region in one central spot, in line with its Easier Access to Health Services Plan.
The Darling Downs Health Services says the new Toowoomba Hospital will deliver new and expanded health care services to the region to cater to its growing population.
“The vision for the Baillie Henderson Hospital campus will be a world-class health and knowledge precinct experience, centred around the new Toowoomba Hospital.
“The strikingly beautiful 75 hectare campus includes tree-lined spaces interconnected between heritage buildings, multidisciplinary health services, research, education, commercial, and community recreation spaces.”
Construction of the new hospital has created around 3127 construction jobs.
“Our fully-funded Hospital Rescue Plan is delivering new and expanded hospitals, 2600 new hospital beds and health services when Queenslanders need them most,” Mr Nicholls said this week.
“We’ve put to bed the poor planning, delays and cost blowouts we inherited and we’re now delivering the hospital beds Queensland needs now and into the future.”
The budget for the new hospital has blown out from $1.3 billion to $1.98 billion.