Sunshine Coast is sick to death
Thu 05 November 2009
Kerrie De Clara, Post Graduate Diploma Journalism
Local residents of the Sunshine Coast are reeling from the latest government decision to postpone the much needed Sunshine Coast University Hospital at Kawana.
The original prospectus for the hospital was as an adjunct to the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), within walking distance from the campus. The idea of a medical facility which could also be used as a training source was welcomed by the government, the university and the community.In January 2006, the then Premier of Queensland Mr Peter Beatty announced the Sunshine Coast University Hospital was to be built as a necessary infrastructure for the Sunshine Coast. 
In 2007, a political decision changed the proposed location for the hospital from the USC campus at Sippy Downs to Kawana, after fierce competition from other areas.
The USC bid for co-location was ultimately challenged and beaten by the Kawana location, a decision which continues to raise heated debate. University of the Sunshine Coast vice-chancellor Professor Paul Thomas was shocked and confused by the news to change location of the hospital.“I was trying desperately to keep the location next to the university,” Professor Thomas said.
“The Forster Report for the Queensland Government stated there should be close links between hospitals and educational facilities.“The world’s best practice show modern hospitals located next to a university were elevated in status and cutting edge research.”
In June 2009, Queensland Government Deputy Premier and Minister for Health Paul Lucas announced the proposed public hospital was to be delayed until 2016 due to the economic environment.Mr Lucas also met with the medical fraternity on the Sunshine Coast to further discuss plans for a private hospital at the proposed site at Kawana.
The government’s reasoning behind its decision was the private sector could add funding to the area.However, questions about the much needed public “super hospital” for the Sunshine Coast continue to go unanswered.
LNP inaugural State Member for Buderim Steve Dickson MP voiced his disappointment at the recent government decision to postpone the hospital. “In our catchment area alone, 240 people every day have to travel to Brisbane for their operations, which not only is unacceptable for Sunshine Coast residents but we are also stealing hospital beds from Brisbane residents,” Mr Dickson said.“People on the Sunshine Coast are literally dying while waiting for a hospital bed.”
While praising the main hospitals at Caloundra and Nambour, Mr Dickson identified the need for another large medical facility however he suggested the proposed hospital site was not ideal.“We live in a cyclone area and Kawana is very low to sea level,” Mr Dickson said.
“We only have to look at the New Orleans cyclone as a precedent to see what could happen here, where flooding cut off power and nobody could reach the patients who were left to die.”Professor Thomas voiced concern about the low level of the Kawana site being only 1-2m above sea level and said it would only be a matter of years before issues with flooding would arise.
“I have been told so many lies that it’s really disconcerting,” Professor Thomas said.Professor Thomas compared the Sunshine Coast University Hospital with the Gold Coast Hospital attached to Griffith University, currently two years ahead of schedule and expecting completion in 2012.
He said it was charging ahead with increased funding by the government while the Sunshine Coast University Hospital had been postponed again since the announcement in June 2009.He added, the proposed completion date of the Sunshine Coast University Hospital had been extended to 2017 with no money allocated to it in forward estimates.
“Government funds are urgently needed for the Sunshine Coast University Hospital even if it means a deficit,” Professor Thomas said.Mr Dickson said the rapid growth of the Sunshine Coast needs to have an infrastructure in place for sustainability.
He spoke of two residential developments, one in Palmview and the other in Caloundra South, where 75,000 people are going to be housed. “The State Government is pushing for unnecessary development that is not sustainable,” Mr Dickson said.“We need to spend money wisely and plan for the future with a view to the next hundred years.”
Professor Thomas has been disillusioned by the political process but is determined the Sunshine Coast has the promised “super hospital”.
He said USC had acquired the land next to the proposed hospital site at Kawana for locating medical specialist facilities when the university expands.
In the interim, he said there were ongoing plans for USC to have a “green link shuttle service” just for the use of the university to give USC students an easy connection to the proposed hospital site at Kawana.Through all the controversy, Professor Thomas believes the two major employment powerhouses of the future for the Sunshine Coast will be USC and the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
Image(s) designed by Kerrie De Clara