New Bundaberg Hospital among big winners of the Queensland budget

Annastacia Palaszczuk, Peta Jamieson and Debbie Carroll announce plans at the site for the new Bundaberg Hospital. (ABC Wide Bay: Nicole Hegarty)

Construction on the new $1.2 billion Bundaberg Hospital will start this year, but there are questions over the level of health care it will provide.

The funding announcement was made in Tuesday's state budget as part of the government's major investment into health.

Bundaberg MP Tom Smith said the community needed and deserved the hospital. 

The hospital will be built on a 60-hectare parcel of land about 5 kilometres south of the Bundaberg central business district.

An artist's impressions shows what the new Bundaberg Hospital will look like. (Supplied: Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service)

Mr Smith said the hospital would include more than 120 beds, with work on a service road to start this year.

Completion is forecast by the end of 2027.

Health crisis failure

Hervey Bay GP and Australian Medical Association vice-president Nick Yim welcomed the announcement but said the government failed to address an immediate shortage of hospital beds and staff across the region.

"2027, that's five years away," Dr Yim said. 

"Bundaberg as a community, they need doctors and beds now."

Nick Yim says a hospital bed and clinical staff shortage needs to be addressed. (ABC Wide Bay: Jake Kearnan)

He said there was population growth in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay and a deficit of beds.

There has been debate over whether it would be categorised as a level-five hospital or one that was capable of providing level-five services.

Mr Smith said there was no difference and it was only semantics.

"Don't worry about the technical terminology, just know that we've got the best hospital and it's the best outcome for our community."

More for mental health

Budget documents show $39.6 million for mental health services in the Wide Bay region, including a new 22-bed acute inpatient unit at Hervey Bay Hospital.

An existing inpatient unit at Maryborough Hospital will also be transformed into a refurbished 10-bed sub-acute specialist unit.

Dr Yim said it was a good step for mental health care, but he believed there needed to be more focus on getting specialist staff to region. 

"We need the psychiatrists, we need the psychologists, we need the counsellors [and] we also need the nurses to also look after the patients," he said.

The Hervey Bay Hospital is set to get a $40 million expansion. (ABC Wide Bay: Johanna Marie)

The investment will more than double the current bed capacity for mental health patients across the two hospitals. 

The inpatient units are scheduled for completion in mid-2023.