New standard in health care
A NEW era in health care is dawning in Townsville with the opening of the Mater Private Hospital’s $52 million extension and redevelopment in Pimlico.
While the extensions are still being fitted out with the latest and greatest in medical equipment, builders CPB Contractors handed over the keys to the four-level building this week.
The Townsville Bulletin was given a sneak peak yesterday as the hospital’s 1000 staff began inductions for its opening on March 24.
The Mercy Centre, named after the hospital’s founders, the Sisters of Mercy, will provide a new larger space for Queensland X-ray which will relocate from Fulham Rd into the extension’s ground floor.
New Magnetic Resonance Imaging equipment will be installed next week.
The extension provides a new hospital entrance and striking facade from Diprose St.
A new day surgery unit will operate on the extension’s level two, while four new digitally integrated operating theatres are provided on level three, and will be used in addition to the hospital’s existing eight operating theatres.
The new theatres allow Xrays and endoscopic and camera images to be transferred and accessed from all areas.
“This is the latest contemporary gear for operating theatres,” the Mater Private Hospital’s director of projects Josie Gabrielli said.
“We are co-locating all of our services. The new building has provided us with the opportunity to bring everything together and make it a more seamless experience for patients and visitors.”
An additional 190 carparking spaces and drop-off and pick-up point is being provided at the new hospital entrance where a screen on the facade features crosses symbolising the hospital’s links with the Sisters of Mercy.
The hospital was established by the sisters in 1945 and a statue of Sisters of Mercy founder Catherine Mcauley will be erected at the entrance.
Ms Gabrielli said plans to develop a medical specialist centre and multistorey carpark on the hospital’s Pimlico campus, being managed through a developer and medical specialists’ group, was progressing.
She said work would be well under way later this year.
The hospital extension has been managed by builders CPB contractors and has provided more than 500 jobs.