QEII Hospital’s latest milestone in the Expansion Program was achieved this week with doors opening to the new Allied Health and Ambulatory Care Services building on Monday 22 July.
The lightweight construction building and refurbishment of the adjacent demountable is the final piece of the $25 million Accelerated Infrastructure Delivery Project at QEII which was to deliver a 28-bed ward at the hospital.
Executive Director of QEII Hospital, Gillian Campbell said the inpatient beds opened in Ward 4A of the main hospital building in November 2023 enabling better access to clinical infrastructure and patient flow, with ambulatory (non-inpatient) services slated to move into a new building.
“This new building now accommodates our Allied Health and Ambulatory Care outpatients across QEII. It includes a new gym, therapy spaces, consult and interview rooms, and office spaces for staff next door,” Ms Campbell said.
Commenced in September 2023, the project benefited from an expansion in scope to include 200m2 of additional floor space which further delivered on efficiencies to move other Allied Health services from the ground floor of the main building into the new space.
“The resulting changes mean most of our physiotherapists, occupational therapists, podiatrists, social workers, speech therapists, and dietitians, as well as Day Therapy Unit staff are now located together in the external hub. The spaces they leave behind will allow expansion to services already on the ground floor.”
“We have big plans for QEII within the fast-growing Metro South region and the changes made possible by this new building allow us to keep building a bigger and better QEII,” she said.
Metro South Hospital and Health Service Chief Executive, Noelle Cridland said the Accelerated Infrastructure Delivery Project at QEII Hospital was essential to provide the extra capacity to manage the growing demand in general medical services in Metro South region.
“Ward 4A arrived just in time at the end of last year with a significant demand occurring across Metro South Health early this year,” Ms Cridland said.
“The population continues to grow and age with more people presenting with more complex health issues than ever before, so the boost to hospital capacity for both inpatient care, and allied health and ambulatory care at QEII is pivotal for us to address the needs of residents in the QEII community.”
This new building is a celebration for allied health staff who graciously moved to temporary accommodation to make way for the urgent works to build Ward 4A.
“Today’s opening is such a celebration for our allied health colleagues who are now able to deliver high quality, person-centred care to patients with improved access in a purpose-built space that meets the needs of both patients and staff,” Ms Cridland said.
Consumer representative Mr Alex McConnell echoed the sentiments on behalf of patients and was excited to cut the ribbon on open day.
“The new building creates a purpose-designed space for Allied Health activities which patients and carers should find easy to access and easy to use. Patients and carers have been specifically considered in all aspects of the design.”
The Queensland Government announced in 2022 that QEII Hospital would be a key part of the Queensland Health and Hospitals Plan which is the largest investment in new hospitals and new beds in the state’s history.
Metro South Health representatives and the project team joined hospital staff and patients to celebrate commencement of clinics in the new Allied Health and Ambulatory Care Services building.