Tweed’s Glad tidings
NSW heavyweights predict new hospital will create healthy future
UP to 650 construction jobs will be created as the new $673 million Tweed Valley Hospital at Cudgen begins to take shape.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Tweed MP Geoff Provest announced the start of major works on Tuesday. The hospital is flagged to open in 2023.
Ms Berejiklian said during a fairly rare visit to the Tweed that the hospital would be almost double the capacity of the ageing The Tweed Hospital at Tweed Heads.
“This will ensure more than 5000 patients each year will not have to travel outside of the area and away from
their families and support networks to access lifesaving treatments,” she said.
Mr Hazzard said there had been more than 500 project user group meetings to make sure the hospital was “futureproofed” and designed to meet community needs.
“And the economic benefits of this project to the region, particularly in the midst of a pandemic when we know so many businesses and families have been struggling, cannot be overstated,” Mr Hazzard said.
Mr Provest reiterated the 2023 opening date and announced the anticipated number of jobs.
“Our region’s population is forecast to grow by 17 per cent over the next decade and this
new hospital will service that increased demand as well as offer education and training opportunities,” he said.
“Building it near the NSW TAFE Kingscliff campus will allow the partnership between TAFE NSW and the Tweed Valley Hospital to develop and deliver improved education and training opportunities for the people of the Tweed.”
Mr Provest said the hospital would include more operating theatres and recovery spaces, a bigger emergency department and enhanced medical, surgical and mental health services.
Additionally, he said the hospital, flagged as the largest regional capital health investment in NSW history, would
have better ambulatory care services, including more outpatient clinics, a new interventional cardiology service and radiotherapy as part of a new integrated cancer care service.
Major work on the hospital comes on the back of a nasty and drawn-out battle in the Tweed Shire community.
Former mayor Katie Milne was a notable member of a sizeable group of residents which fought against the facility’s contentious location on state-significant farmland, to no avail in the end.
This week, Labor federal Member for Richmond Justine Elliot, who has long butted heads with her state political counterpart Mr Provest, again raised concerns
that parking at the hospital may not be free as previously promised by the NSW Liberal National Party.
She has also claimed the old Tweed Hospital could be sold.
“Now we find out that not only is she (Ms Berejiklian) refusing to guarantee free parking but she is also aiming to sell off the existing Tweed Hospital,” she said.
“Gladys Berejiklian’s Liberals and Nationals: you just can’t trust them.”
Mr Provest dismissed the claims as “lies” run as part of a “scare campaign”.
He has repeatedly doubled down and assured parking at the new hospital would be free and the old hospital would not be sold.