29 October 2008

$950 million confirmed for Royal North Shore Hospital rebuild

NSW Minister for Health, John Della Bosca today unveiled plans for an iconic new Royal North Shore Hospital, the largest health capital works project in NSW history.

The total investment by the NSW Government for the redevelopment of the site is $950 million.

Of this a $721 million public private partnership project, to be delivered by InfraShore, will consolidate 53 outdated buildings into high quality purpose-built facilities for acute hospital care and community health.

"This is a serious investment and a demonstration of the Rees Government's solid commitment to deliver improved health services for the families of NSW," Mr Della Bosca said.

"Consultation with clinicians and the community expanded the original scope of works resulting in a bigger and better project.

"The $950 million total redevelopment of the site includes a research and education facility, medical equipment and IT, in addition to the new acute hospital facilities.

"It is an outstanding design that can expand to meet future health care needs for the people of Sydney and NSW.

"This brand new hospital will be critical to the state's ability to respond to medical and technological advances in health care and to support the health requirements of a growing population," he said.

"The private sector partnership means the people of NSW are getting a brand new hospital for the cost of a redevelopment.

"It's a terrific example of working with the private sector to deliver brand new state-of-the-art health facilities for the best possible price," he said.

The new main hospital building will be a relatively low rise, with innovative colour-coded internal spaces to help people navigate the hospital environment.

The design maximises local views, light and space to create a welcoming, healing environment, while the compact footprint ensures that every department is within two minutes walk of the main lift core.

The new community health building located on Herbert Street will have a welcoming street frontage and a range of facilities to support local community and community mental health services.

North Shore Ryde Health Service General Manager, Ms Sue Shilbury, welcomed the announcement, saying that ongoing consultation with clinicians would be a significant part of the project.

"We have consulted widely with the hospital's clinicians over the past two years regarding the design and we will continue to refine the plans to make sure the new hospital best meets their clinical needs," Ms Shilbury said.

"In the last four weeks we've taken the detailed department designs to more than 200 staff members, as well as presenting them at general staff information sessions and to our Medical Staff Council.

"While it will not be possible to accommodate all the individual clinicians' requests, every effort would be made to respond to their clinical needs.

"There will be a third round of consultation with the hospital's medical staff before the end of the year," Ms Shilbury added.

Work is expected to commence in late 2008, the community health building is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2011, and the new main hospital building by the end of 2012.

InfraShore includes financiers ABN AMRO, construction company Thiess Pty Ltd and service providers Thiess Services, ISS Facility Services and Wilson Parking.

For a range of health information, go online to www.health.nsw.gov.au