LNP calls for fix to hospital shortfall
LNP leader David Crisafulli claims the northern Gold Coast is short “hundreds” of patient beds and urgently needs a new hospital of “substantial scale.”
The state government is planning to build a 12-level hospital in Coomera at a cost of $1.3bn, however it has yet to be announced when the facility will open.
Mr Crisafulli said plans are not advancing quickly enough.
“We are several hundred beds short on the northern Gold Coast alone,” he said.
“If you look at the forwards (estimates) it paints a picture of a government looking for a political solution rather than a patient solution.
“Of its socalled record investment less than 1 per cent is budgeted this financial year and almost half of it doesn’t even appear in the forwards (budgeting).
“We won’t see a hospital on the northern Gold Coast until deep into this decade unless government changes.”
Mr Crisafulli, who is also MP for the northern Gold Coast seat of Broadwater, questioned why Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk wasn’t pressing harder for a commitment to 50/50 health funding from Canberra.
“If it was good enough to bang the drum for 50/50 funding, when there was a Liberal government in Canberra, surely it’s good enough to bang the drum when there’s a Labor government,” he said.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath in June told the Bulletin that the preliminary business case for the Coomera Hospital had been completed.
“The project will progress to the next phase of having a detailed business case developed. This will include identifying the necessary funding,” she said.