Specialist medical care hub in works
TOWNSVILLE could have a one-stop premium medical specialist centre by 2021 under a new agreement inked by Mater Health Services.
The $19 million project, to be built on Mater-owned land behind the existing Pimlico campus, is being led by a consortium of doctors who will secure investment from medical specialists to raise capital.
Townsville Specialist Suites director and neurologist Dr Craig Costello said the North Queensland Specialist Centre would be “ideally positioned” to become the leading one-stop specialist hub in Northern Australia.
“Townsville, like many other regional areas in Australia, is under-represented in speciality fields,” he said.
“A centre like (this) will become an attractive option for specialists to come to regional centres and practice in Townsville in the longer term.”
Dr Costello said he had reached out to 200 accredited specialists within Mater’s North Queensland business but would also be speaking to colleagues further afield.
The Lothair St site will have a strong focus on research and training for medical students studying James Cook University.
Dr Costello said “absolutely without a doubt” the new centre would make Townsville an attractive place for medical students to do their traineeships.
The specialist part of stage two
Health Services’ masterplan.
Stage one, a four-storey $52 million building, is set to open in mid-2020 and will deliver a new X-ray facility with the latest imaging technology, new digital operating theatres, a new modern day surgery unit and new hospital entrance.
Mater chief executive Gerard Wyvill said he expected at centre is of Mater 10-year hundreds of construction jobs to be created as part of stage two of the project.
“It’s a self-funding development from the hospital’s perspective, while Mater will contribute the land, each individual specialist or doctor associated with the Mater will have the opportunity to buy in,” he said.
Dr Costello said Townsville Specialist Suites had hired local professional services like Counterpoint Architects and accounting firm PVW Partners to support additional jobs. Townsville Specialist Suites will lodge development applications with the council once investment discussions are finalised in coming months.