By JONATHON HOWARD
ONE of the founders of the Noosa Hospital, Elizabeth Aspinall, has spoken out about the desperate need for hospital upgrades including a birthing centre – as the future of the hospital hangs in the balance.
Mrs Aspinall was a founding member, alongside the late Peter Skelton, of the Noosa Hospital Community Board of Advice formed in the 1990s and they fought for more than nine years to get the hospital opened in September 1999.
She said the Noosa Hospital had opened with 100 beds under a split of 35 private beds and 75 publicly funded beds.
However, that number has now slipped to 92 beds, with a shift toward private beds now occupying about 60 beds and only 40 beds allocated public care. Mrs Aspinall now fears a lack of investment in the hospital’s infrastructure and the lack of a birthing centre, is sending the hospital down a path of private investment.
Noosa Hospital is partly owned and managed by Ramsay Health Care through a contract arrangement with Queensland Health and contributes to the overall capacity of public health services within the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service (SCHHS).
“The hospital was built by Mayne Health which was an off-shoot of Mayne (Logistics) Transport,” Mrs Aspinall said.
“Noosa Hospital provides a wonderful service, but the buildings are becoming run-down and the gardens have deteriorated into a wasteland.”
Mrs Aspinall said the Noosa Hospital was the first BOOT (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) hospital to be built in Australia, a concept which has since been replicated in other regions.
“Noosa Hospital was originally planned to include an obstetric wing due to the fact that at that time the region had more than 600 births a year, but a maternity wing was put on hold and was planned to be added later,” she said.
“The time is now to redress the absence of a birthing centre, to provide more beds which are currently in short supply and to restore and increase the number of public beds, which along with their public funding have been surreptitiously whittled away over the years.
“Why do we still not have a children’s ward at Noosa Hospital? When the number of children has grown hugely and there are a lot of sick children who could be treated by specialists in a low-key children’s ward.”
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