Hospital in $ 10.7m lift
TOWNSVILLE Hospital has received $ 10.7 million from the Queensland Government to expand the endoscopy and renal units to deliver better patient care.
The expansion will provide extra space for haemodialysis patients and two more procedure rooms for patients undergoing endoscopy treatment, with construction scheduled to begin next year.
The amount, split between the departments with $ 5.9 million for endoscopy and $ 4.8 million for the renal unit, will also provide opportunity for local contractors for the construction phase.
Townsville Hospital and Health Service board chairman Tony Mooney said the hospital’s renal unit treated people from across the region with end- stage kidney failure who require complex renal care. “We recognised that the unit needed to be expanded and have now received the funds from the budget to start the process of letting the tender and getting started on construction,” he said.
Mr Mooney said the number of treatment chairs would increase from 17 to 30 and was a major boost for renal care.
“Many of our patients are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and come to our hospital from rural and remote parts of the region,” he said.
Mr Mooney said he was also delighted to see endoscopy services receive a boost with two new procedure rooms. “This will create significant extra capacity for our clinicians to undertake endoscopies and colonoscopies which are important procedures to detect problems in the gastrointestinal tract including cancers of the colon and oesophagus,” he said.
The hospital is also training two nurse practitioner endoscopists, who will be two of only three in North Queensland.
Mundingburra MP Coralee O’Rourke said the Government’s new Buy Queensland policy meant local businesses would get the best shot at winning work associated with the expansion of the units.
“The policy is about making sure taxpayer money is spent in the best interests of the community,” she said.
“It will be good to see local Townsville and North Queensland businesses winning work contracts involved with these projects.”
The hospital’s renal director Dr George Kan said it was a great project as the overall incidence of kidney failure was increasing.
“Every year we have more and more people coming on to dialysis,” he said. “This development provides for our current patients as well as the future needs of the patients.
Dr Kan said there were three shifts a day for dialysis, with the last shift ending at 10pm which was very late for those being treated.
“We will have more spaces to fit people in with the expansion, reducing to two shifts and getting patients home in time for dinner.”