A $470 million public hospital has opened in the NSW Hunter Valley, after a decade of planning and debate over its funding.
The new Maitland hospital at Metford will serve a booming regional population, with Maitland being one of Australia's fastest-growing areas.
The doors opened this morning, as more than 100 patients were transferred from the old Maitland hospital.
One of the new features, a 12-chair chemotherapy service, means patients will no longer have to travel 30 kilometres to Newcastle's Calvary Mater hospital for treatment.
There is a new MRI machine, a larger emergency department, new birthing suites, a rooftop helipad and 339 beds — almost double the number at the old hospital.
Catering for COVID
Designs for the new hospital were modified at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with negative pressure rooms added to allow better care for COVID-positive patients.
The Hunter continues to record thousands of new COVID-19 cases daily, although local health officials believe the region may have passed its peak.
As of today, there are 100 COVID patients in hospitals in the Hunter New England region, and six of those are being treated in intensive care units.
Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison said the local community should be proud of its efforts to ensure the hospital was fully funded by the state government.
"We started the fight for this hospital in 2011 when we were told we were going to get a new hospital, but [there was] no commitment to a fully public premises," she said.
"Then in 2016 there was an admission by government that it would be one of five new hospitals in NSW to be funded privately.
"Since then the community has signed petitions, we've had parliamentary debates, we've had rallies and we were able to prevail in that and that's a huge achievement.
COVID added 'complexity'
Hunter New England Health chief executive Michael DiRienzo said he considered postponing moving patients from the old hospital due to the latest COVID outbreak, but decided the transfers could be done safely.
"The patients that are there at the existing hospital will move across, we're looking at around 20 odd vehicles moving over 100 patients," he said.
Mr DiRienzo said all of the major equipment was already on site and smaller equipment had been moved yesterday.
He said health services in the region would be significantly improved and access to them would be much easier.
"There is ample parking and much easier parking, so it's all parking within the footprint of the hospital, more secure, there's good shading," he said.
"We've actually put solar panels on top of the car-parking shading infrastructure, which also adds to the fact we hope this hospital will be carbon neutral in coming years."
The old Maitland hospital will eventually close, but a small number of staff will remain on site for now.
The acute and clinical services will not be operational, but a number of community services will remain open until more suitable locations are identified.
