St George Hospital

Hansard ID: HANSARD-1323879322-105915

Hansard session: Fifty-Seventh Parliament, First Session (57-1)

St George Hospital

Mr MARK COURE (Oatley) (17:35:56):

I speak on my favourite subject, St George Hospital. Perhaps my proudest achievement over the past eight years of this Government is its record spend on health infrastructure, and front-line health services and staff. I have made it my mission as the member for Oatley to campaign and advocate for much-needed upgrades and redevelopment of St George Hospital. This Government is ensuring that communities throughout New South Wales have access to first-class health facilities, with state‑of‑the‑art maternity and birthing facilities, newborn care and paediatrics being delivered as part of this redevelopment. I have confidence in St George Hospital. My son, James, was born at St George Hospital five years ago. My wife and I are currently expecting our second child later this year. Everyone in the St George region can be proud of the hospital.

The New South Wales Government's record $8.4 billion statewide health infrastructure building boom, as well as the nearly $10 billion invested since 2011, is only possible due to our strong economic management. In addition, a record 16,000 front-line staff have been delivered since 2011, an extra 8,300 front-line hospital staff are being recruited and another 100 new and upgraded hospitals and other health facilities are being built in addition to the 100 already delivered. One of my first priorities as the member for Oatley was the reopening and refurbishment of the hydrotherapy pool at St George Hospital. Over 13 months the pool underwent significant refurbishment to provide important services to patients with a wide range of acute and chronic conditions. That was the result of an investment of $145,000 by the Government, together with additional funding and support from the Lions clubs of Hurstville, Kogarah and Rockdale.

St George Hospital is now up to stage three of its redevelopment, totalling more than $700 million worth of investment, including a new acute services building, a birthing suite, emergency department and additional parking. This redevelopment began with stage one in 2014, when the $41 million new emergency department was opened, together with the improved hydrotherapy pool. That is in addition to stage two of the redevelopment, with the seven-storey acute services building that now includes a new intensive care department, new operating theatres, more inpatient beds, cardiac catheter laboratories, a sterilising service department and a new helipad, as well as additional parking.

While our hospital was forgotten for 16 years under Labor, it has not been forgotten by this Government. This year I welcomed 106 new doctors to the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, who were part of the new interns starting across the State. Forty-three of those new doctors were for St George Hospital, with the remainder going to nearby health services around our area, such as Sutherland Hospital. Furthermore, in 2018 the Kogarah Ambulance Superstation, part of the New South Wales Government's record $150 million ambulance infrastructure boom, was officially opened and delivers exceptional emergency care. This superstation delivers the modern infrastructure paramedics need to deliver emergency medical care to patients in the Kogarah, Rockdale and Oatley electorates in the St George community. It is great to witness our local paramedics being supported by a dedicated team that cleans and restocks its vehicles, maximising the time for paramedics to undertake clinical care on the road. This was followed by the first paramedic response point at Mortdale.

More recently I had the opportunity to announce the newly awarded tender for the state‑of‑the‑art $11.5 million birthing suite and refurbished operating theatres at St George Hospital. The former acute services ward will be the location of the new birthing unit, which will host fit-for-purpose birthing rooms including water immersion facilities. This followed the Premier's announcement earlier this year of an additional $385 million of funding for stage three of the hospital's redevelopment, which will create a new precinct including an ambulatory care unit, outpatient and day surgery services, a new day rehabilitation unit, increased subacute inpatient beds and a hub for community health and home-based services. The works will also include the refurbishment of existing operating theatres in the hospital. I look forward to keeping the House up to date on any further developments surrounding St George Hospital.