The Beattie Government has announced its intention to build a major health facility to be known as the Gold Coast University Hospital. This visionary concept involves co-locating a new tertiary hospital on the Griffith University Gold Coast campus. In addition to promoting excellence in patient care, the plan will create the ideal environment for research and training of future doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. The development of this new health facility on the Gold Coast will rival existing university hospitals around the world.

The state government is currently seeking community feedback about the project.

The Challenge

Queensland is the fastest growing state in Australia, and the Gold Coast is growing at twice the state average. By 2016 the Gold Coast is expected to have a population of 640,000, as well as a significant tourist and transient population. The demand for health services will also be led by a large, ageing population in the southeast Queensland region.

With phenomenal population growth comes increased demand for public health services requiring both facilities and staff. Hundreds of newly qualified health professionals are needed to staff health facilities in Queensland every year.

The existing Gold Coast Hospital was designed in the late 1970s to serve a population that was only a third of what it is today. It will soon need to be replaced.

The Opportunity

A window of opportunity exists for major changes to be made to public health care on the Gold Coast. The most significant aspect is the development of a new tertiary hospital to meet the needs of the local community.

Tertiary level hospitals provide a higher level and greater range of complex care to patients. Extensive work has already been done to determine the future health service needs in this area as part of an 18 month master planning process on the Gold Coast.

A committed team of clinicians including doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and clinical support staff have been working to develop a blueprint of what the needs of the community will be for the future. Using detailed future population analysis, the working groups have identified the following priorities for a Gold Coast tertiary hospital:
- Cancer services
- Cardiac services
- Neurosciences
- Neonatal Intensive Care
- Trauma

The existing hospital site in Southport does not have sufficient space on which to build a suitably-sized facility. An opportunity has been identified to build a new tertiary hospital on a much larger green-field site, 3km from the existing Gold Coast Hospital, co-located on the Griffith University Campus (off Smith Street at Southport).

In addition to the benefits of integrating patient care, teaching and research, moving the main hospital to the Griffith campus will lead to improved patient and staff access.

The Vision

Many of the world's great hospitals are co-located with universities - Royal Prince Alfred (Australia), Karolinska (Sweden) and Stanford (USA) University Hospitals are just a few notable examples.

The circumstances now exist to build such a university hospital on the Gold Coast. This represents a rare opportunity to create a significant public institution.

The co-location of the hospital on the Griffith University campus will create an environment where medical research and the teaching of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals become a natural part of hospital life.

Such a facility can be expected to attract the best people from Australia and the world, who in turn will train Queensland's health professionals of the future. Although it will take time for such an institution to develop and mature, the opportunity exists now to plant the seed for the future.

The benefit of such an environment on the quality of patient care cannot be overestimated.

The development of the Gold Coast University Hospital will form part of an integrated package of measures for health on the Gold Coast. In addition to the construction of the new tertiary hospital, the existing Robina Hospital will need to be expanded and upgraded.

Not all health care needs require the services of a hospital and there will be a greater focus on treating patients with chronic illness outside the hospital environment. To this end "Health Hubs" will be established in key locations across the region.

The process to date provides a strong base which can be integrated with the South East Queensland Regional plan for health services. Other regional health providers, including the private sector must now also be further considered in the consultation.

Get Involved

To ensure the Gold Coast tertiary hospital is future-proof, the detailed planning process for the entire region must continue. This will include:
- Formal and detailed consultation with a wider range of stakeholders, including NSW Health, private health providers, general practitioners, local councils and relevant universities
- Consideration of existing and planned health services in the Gold Coast District and South East Queensland corner.
- Discussion with non-government agencies and the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing to ensure sufficient services and support are available for the aged.
- Further investigation to confirm the population projections accurately reflect future patient inflows, service provision and the needs of all health services in the Gold Coast region.

If you would like to be a part of this exciting opportunity to develop health services on the Gold Coast Contact Us