St George Hospital

Hansard ID: HANSARD-1323879322-99135

Hansard session: Fifty-Sixth Parliament, First Session (56-1)

St George Hospital

Mr MARK COURE (Oatley) (17:49:09):

I highlight to the House the open day for St George Hospital on 14 October. The Acute Services Building at St George Hospital is almost ready to be opened. It is a wonderful achievement for the hospital and the community, and it is also one of this Government's election achievements. The $277 million upgrade of St George Hospital will see the opening of the new Acute Services Building, the tallest building in Kogarah. The open day will be on Saturday 14 October from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. Members on both sides of the Chamber will be interested to hear that this building on Gray Street, which is almost complete, is the main stage of St George Hospital's $277 million redevelopment. It is in addition to the new emergency department that opened three years ago after a $41 million redevelopment.

The brand-new emergency department was relocated, which was a great win for St George Hospital after so many years of neglect—16 years of failure—by those opposite. It is true: St George Hospital was part of Labor's Bermuda Triangle. Labor had clearly forgotten about it for 16 years. When we came into government the first thing we did was rebuild the emergency department with $41 million, and we continued with stage two of the redevelopment of St George Hospital.

The new building will help the hospital deliver first-class care facilities for patients and staff. The doctors and nurses at St George Hospital, who do a wonderful job, see this as a great win for the local area. On the open day community members will tour this wonderful new facility. This is a way of giving back to a community that continues to support its local hospital. Some of the key additions include eight additional operating suites, a new intensive care unit with 52 beds and an additional 128 inpatient beds. It is fitting that such an important facility for our community is also architecturally pleasing and easy to identify in the skyline. This is a major win for our local hospital. Visitors will be given insight into clinical areas that are generally off limits to the public when St George Hospital opens the doors of the Acute Services Building.

I thank all those who have assisted in putting this together. In particular, I thank the former Minister for Health, the Hon. Jillian Skinner, the current Minister for Health, the Hon. Brad Hazzard, and our Premier and former Treasurer, the Hon. Gladys Berejiklian, who last year provided an additional $30 million or $40 million to fast‑track the redevelopment of this Hospital. This new building will help the hospital deliver first‑class care and facilities for patients and staff.