Sunshine Coast University Hospital is a tertiary teaching hospital, the first opened in the country for over 20 years, servicing the Sunshine Coast region, as the hub in an integrated network of accessible healthcare.

The hospital opened on time in April 2017 with 450 beds with the remaining capacity expected to be commissioned by 2020/21, which will see all 738 beds utilised. Understanding the need to future proof investments, all the while ensuring the delivery of exceptional care to the surrounding community for decades to come, the hospital has been planned to allow further expansion up to a total of 900 beds.

Underpinning the successful delivery of this giant project, which is also Queensland’s first greenfield Public Private Partnership (PPP), is a comprehensive stakeholder engagement strategy that brings construction consortium partners together with end-users to ensure all stakeholder needs are taken into consideration.

Ahead of Health Facilities Design and Development, running as part of Queensland Healthcare Week 2019, we chat to Irene Roberts, Portfolio Director at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital and Health Service (SCUH). In this article Irene chats to us about successfully implementing an integrated service commissioning approach in a complex PPP landscape and the change management framework making it all possible. 

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is one of more than 20 such inquiries into aged care stemming back to 1997. This latest inquiry, announced late last year will no doubt highlight the systemic problems that have been previously reported.

The purpose here isn’t to name and shame, but to ensure the Commission – with its interim report due in October this year and a final report due in April 2020 – understands the root cause of the problem, and not just the problem itself.

Over the next 35 years, it is expected that the aged care workforce will need to nearly triple in size in order to be able to continue to provide support for consumers of aged care. As demand for aged care services increases, so will demand for a well-trained, responsive and diverse aged care workforce. 

As the workforce shrinks and demand increases we need to begin looking at more innovative solutions to make the Aged Care sector in Australia a more desirable and rewarding place to work. 

Over the past decades however healthcare locally, and globally has been in flux. Healthcare’s reinvention is being driven by two main factors: the search for economic sustainability and digital disruption. Health care spending is on an unsustainable trajectory, thanks to demographic shifts and globalisation.

But just as health systems need to meet growing need, while containing costs and limiting environmental impact, digital health has emerged to enable approaches that are dramatically more patient-centric and cost-effective, without expanding footprint. 

To understand how digital healthcare can help meet growing need,  and streamline care delivery, without adding beds, we take a look at three case study examples – from Metro South Health, eHealth NSW and St. John of God Health Care – who have already embarked on their transformation journey.

The $1.76 billion, 750-bed tertiary Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH) is part of a major expansion of health services for the Gold Coast community. The site covers an area of almost 20 hectares and replaces the existing Gold Coast Hospital, which was built in the 1970s. The hospital is co-located with Griffith University, forming a valuable health and knowledge precinct for the Gold Coast and attracting students to build a lasting workforce.

Opened in September 2013, GCUH aims to provide the South Eastern Queensland and Northern New South Wales region with a facility that espouses wellness - not just treatment – and has been doing just that for almost six years.

Like with any facility though there was, and there continue to be, post-transition challenges and opportunities that no amount of strategic planning and forward thinking could account for.

Ahead of Health Facilities Design and Development 2019 we caught up with Toni Peggrem, Executive Director of Strategy and Planning at Gold Coast Health, who discusses post-implementation design challenges at GCUH and shares top tips and lessons learned from the $1.7 billion project. 

With Caboolture located just 15km from Brisbane CBD the area is growing at twice the rate of other areas in the state. This rapid growth has meant that the local hospital, currently only 26 years old, was struggling to meet the needs of an ever increasing community, and an aging population.

In an effort to meet need, increase capacity, ease mounting pressure and drive better patient experiences, the Queensland State Government announced in late 2017 a $253m funding boost for Caboolture Hospital as part of a major hospitals funding package. This investment will see the hospital increase by over 100 beds, as well as the expansion of the emergency department, which is currently operating at capacity.

Crucial to this project however is the flexibility and future-proofing element which has been strategically worked into the site master plan to ensure, that despite rapid population growth, the refurbished facility will continue meeting community needs for decades to come.  

Ahead of the Health Facilities Design and Development Summit, running as part of Queensland Healthcare Week 2019, we explore the $253m redevelopment of Caboolture Hospital and learn about the innovations in hospital design that are helping meet community need and  future-proof the investment for long-term results. 

Healthcare demands will always be a growing concern. Designing an effective and caring healthcare facility is an intricate process; it needs to meet a full range of activities, from routine exams to life threatening emergencies.

Historically the design of a healthcare facility, whether a hospital or an aged care community, has not considered in-depth the impact of spatial design on the quality of the patient experience or on their healthcare outcomes. Along with improving the patient experience this provides a unique opportunity to use current and emerging evidence to improve the physical environment in which nurses and other caregivers work, and thus improve both nurse and patient outcomes at the same time.

For healthcare facility managers, the emerging aim is to keep patients safe and in a welcoming environment that enhances quality and patient satisfaction. A healthcare design trend we continue to see requires creating spaces that reflect calmness and strive to ease the patient's journey.

Ahead of Queensland Healthcare Week, and the Health Facilities Design and Development Summit 2019 we take a look at the 5 biggest healthcare interior design trends and explore how five Australian healthcare providers are leveraging these trends.