The new University of Canberra Public Hospital will cost $139 million and be built and maintained by big multinational Brookfield Multiplex, Health Minister Simon Corbell announced on Friday.
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Construction will begin early in 2016 and the hospital will open in 2018. It won't do surgery or emergency treatment, but will focus on sub-acute care, including rehabilitation for people recovering from surgery.
A teaching hospital, it is designed to take the pressure off the acute-care hospitals, Canberra and Calvary.
It is being built on land on the corner of Aikman Drive and Ginninderra Drive at the university. This month, the government bought the 4.8 hectare corner block from the University of Canberra for the project. A spokesperson said the compulsory acquisition was mutually agreed at a price of $1.
Mr Corbell said Brookfield Multiplex would design and build the new hospital. The government would own it and Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions would maintain it for 25 years.
After the draft design was released earlier this year concerns were raised about traffic congestion on Aikman Drive and lack of carparking, given most of the carparking was to be built on the University of Canberra campus rather than the hospital site.
Mr Corbell said the final design included underground parking. The facade had also been simplified "to allow for simpler cleaning and maintenance, reducing whole-of-life costs".
The capacity of the hospital has sparked much debate, since the government revised the number of beds from 200 to 140, adding 75 "day spaces" instead of overnight beds.
The hospital will comprise:
- 30 neurological rehabilitation beds for people with stroke, brain injury, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis and other conditions
- 30 general rehabilitation beds for people with amputations and disability associated with illness, surgery and trauma
- 30 elderly rehabilitation beds, for conditions including fractures, cognitive impairment, surgery recovery and Parkinson's disease
- 30 "slow stream" rehabilitation beds for patients with "limited tolerance or ability to participate in rehabilitation", including people waiting for an aged care place
- 20 mental health rehabilitation beds, for treatment of people with mental illness
- 75 day places (30 bed equivalents): 25 mental health, 25 rehabilitation, 25 aged care
The government says among existing services to be moved to the new hospital are the Brian Hennessy Rehabilitation Centre, rehabilitation units at Canberra Hospital and at community health centres, Ward 12B, and some beds from Calvary.
Brookfield Multiplex is a large multinational with experience in health buildings in Australia and elsewhere, including the $2 billion Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth, $385 million clinical research hub at the University of Sydney, and the recently completed South East Regional Hospital in Bega.
University of Canberra vice-chancellor Professor Stephen Parker said the hospital would consolidate the university as a centre of excellence in health, and "increase the capacity of our campus to serve the community".
