A progress plan for Maitland’s new hospital is now complete with a design team expected to be appointed by the end of the year.
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Maitland MP Robyn Parker has welcomed the hospital’s planning update as part of a major clinical health services plan for the Hunter Valley.
The Hunter Valley Clinical Services Plan provides a strategic road map for public health services from Maitland and the Coalfields to the Upper Hunter, and a guide to how Hunter New England Health will structure and organise its services into the future.
“A major new referral hospital for the rapidly growing Maitland region is the centrepiece of the plan,” Ms Parker said. “And I am very pleased to say that planning for a health precinct and hospital on the selected site is already under way.”
A 40-hectare Crown land site at Metford has been announced as the preferred site for the hospital.
A design team, including an architect, project manager and cost manager, is scheduled to be appointed before the end of the year to undertake the next phases of planning.
The new facility will serve as a local hospital for Maitland residents and will also be the main referral hospital for patients needing to be transferred or referred from other towns in the Hunter Valley.
“[The new hospital] would offer more and higher level services than the current Maitland Hospital,” Ms Parker said.
Some of the additional services proposed for the new hospital include an intensive care unit, an emergency short-stay unit, cancer oncology services and enhanced mental health services.
“This has been one of the biggest planning projects undertaken by Hunter New England Health in some years and I know a lot of thought and work has gone into compiling this comprehensive plan,” Ms Parker said.