Is Tweed hospital set for a shift further south?
THE search is on for a greenfield site as New South Wales's new Health Minister Brad Hazzard confirmed this week a new hospital for the Tweed Shire is under consideration.
Mr Hazzard and Tweed MP Geoff Provest met with doctors at the Tweed Hospital on Wednesday, at the minister's first hospital visit since taking on the portfolio.
The meeting coincided with a call by the Tweed Hospital's medical staff council for the government to come good on its promised upgrade for the stretched facility.
Doctors said while the region needed a 500-bed hospital to meet future needs, they could not wait for a new facility to be built.
Mr Provest said about $1million had already been spent by a special team working on the business case to determine whether a redeveloped Tweed Hospital or a new one was needed.
"They are looking at the cost of renovating the existing (hospital), how many beds, operating theatres, extra facilities etc,” Mr Provest said.
"And to the best of my knowledge, at the moment the business case model is stacking up to a greenfield site but it would be pure speculation on where that site would be.”
Mr Provest said any new hospital would not cost Murwillumbah its hospital, while Mr Hazzard acknowledged quick fixes were needed at the current site even if a new hospital was built.
He said any expansion at the current site could encounter geo-technical problems, with the site built on reclaimed land that was once a tidal channel.
"If you start digging into that you've got to waterproof it and it is very expensive,” Mr Provest said.
"Plus if you build above six storeys you're going to run into issues getting firm foundations.”
NSW Shadow Health Minister Walt Secord said health staff suggested any new greenfield site could be located near Chinderah.
"The site they're looking at is south of the Tweed on the Pacific Hwy,” he said.
"There's talk about a site south of Tweed ... that's what I've heard with the local health district.”
Mr Secord estimated any new hospital would cost about $600 million to $1.1billion.
