Cash boost for hospital

Friday August 11, 2023

A MENTAL health unit and community drug and alcohol rehabilitation beds was the highlight of Minister for Health and Wellbeing Chris Picton's visit to Mount Gambier and District Hospital yesterday.

Mr Picton visited the Limestone Coast this week where he toured a range of health facilities from Keith, Naracoorte and Bordertown all the way down to Mount Gambier, Millicent and Kingston.

Led by MacKillop MP Nick McBride and Mount Gambier MP Troy Bell, Mr Picton also released concept images of the local hospital's upgrade.

The $24m project concept images showcase plans which double the current capacity of mental health beds and expand the emergency department.

The upgrades to the mental health unit include several beds and two specialised community drug and alcohol rehabilitation beds.

Construction for the upgrades are expected to begin next year with completion expected mid-2025.

It comes as the local hospital also welcomed 45 graduate registered nurses and four new midwives in the past year and was the first country Local Health Network to be completely connected to the electronic medical records regional roll-out.

Mr Bell said it was pleasing to have the upgrades happening following a combination of a lot of work and negotiation.

"These announcements were made after the last state election but it takes time to do the proper planning and consultation," Mr Bell said.

"Now we are further down the track it is brilliant to see the development taking shape which is so important for the community, for our hospital and health service which underpins a vibrant community."

He said these developments was "desperately needed" for a community the size of Mount Gambier/Berrin.

"We are finally getting the attention that I think we deserve and the investment is starting to flow," Mr Bell said.

"The highlight of the upgrades is the emergency department and the mental health components which are really important in my mind because it is an ongoing issue that we need significant resources for.

"Mount Gambier is also a large catchment area for other regions and it is much greater than those who live in Mount Gambier and there are significant dollars being spent."

Speaking on the number of graduate nurses and midwives, Mr Bell said workforce development was important with the increasing number of staff having an impact on the hospital.

"We need to continually be recruiting but the graduate nurses program is a great program and we are happy to continue to support employment opportunities and increase services for out community," he said.

Other areas of concern for Mr Bell included funding for palliative care and a purpose-built hospice as well as radiation therapy services and attracting specialists.

Mr Picton said he was really excited that works will be progressing in terms of upgrades to the emergency department, as well as upgrades to mental health services and to alcohol and drug detox services at the hospital.

"The Emergency Department has been under pressure and expanding the emergency department will give more scope for patients to be seen faster in that hospital and to cope with what we expect will be increasing demand in years ahead as well," he said.

"So providing a doubling of the number of mental health beds, making that new area of six sub acute mental health beds in the hospital will enable that step down from those acute services, more people being able to be treated here or help for people who need it.

"Then the last element of that upgrade to the hospital as well is to drug and alcohol detox beds.

"These will be the first drug and alcohol detox beds in our hospital outside of metropolitan Adelaide."

Limestone Coast Local Health Network acting chief executive officer Angela Miller said having the concept images of the new hospital "made the upgrades feel very real".

"With a growing population in the Limestone Coast, this investment will help us to continue to deliver outstanding health care for more regional South Australians," Ms Miller said.

"Our goal is that in building more world class facilities, we will attract more top-notch clinicians, allied health professionals and nurses to work in our hospitals and who will embrace a true work life balance here on the Limestone Coast."

In The News