KALLANGUR SATELLITE HOSPITAL TAKES SHAPE!

BRUCE GIDDINGS

Ms Lamb commenced the position on 23 December 2022. She holds a Masters in Employment Relations, a Bachelor of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts.

New RTI Commissioner

STEPHANIE Winson has been appointed as Queensland’s new Right to Information (RTI) Commissioner.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Shannon

Fentiman said Ms Winson was highly qualified, possessed international experience and would bring a fresh approach to a valued, vital and independent position

Ms Winson will start her three-year posting on 3 January 2023.

New Dolphins Recruit

JAYDEN Mitchell from Rothwell, a University of the Sunshine Coast Bachelor of Sports Studies student, will be suiting up for The Dolphins sales department after impressing the club during his work placement.

Jayden’s hiring marks a milestone in the ongoing partnership between The Dolphins and UniSC which is designed to underpin study and sport opportunities for Moreton Bay region locals, enabling them to tackle their career passions on campus and on the field.

The Dolphins play their first NRL match against Sydney Roosters on Sunday 5 March at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane

KALLANGUR’S new health facility was first announced by Premier Anastacia Palazczuk in 2020, during the early part of the covid19 pandemic.

Since then, the Australian-first project has been affected by a minor cost blowout and a building delay of several months due to lockdowns during the pandemic and various supply chain issues.

The proposed completion date in May has been pushed back to a date to be advised, but sometime in 2023, according to a spokesman for the Minister for Health Yvette D’ath.

The facility at 159-163 Dohles Rocks Road is one of seven satellite hospitals to be established in southeast Queensland, with three of them to be located within the Metro North Hospital and Health Service region - at Kallangur, Caboolture and Bribie Island. The other four will be located at Eight Mile Plains, Redlands, Ripley and Tugun.

The new hospitals will include a Minor Injury and Illness Clinic that will provide urgent care during extended hours. This clinic will be able to diagnose and treat conditions such as simple fractures, minor head injuries, infections and minor burns.

There will also be other healthcare services on offer that could include treatments such as renal dialysis, chemotherapy, and day medical services, and other services such as mental health, child health services, women’s health and antenatal services, older person’s services, medical imaging, and oral health services.

Details of what services will be offered in Kallangur and the other six satellite hospitals will stating that “a hospital has a theatre, Emergency Department and overnight beds,” and “the state government duped the people of Queensland.”

Lively discussions have also sprung up on various social media sites, debating whether the facility should be called a” hospital” or a “clinic”. Some locals have expressed the view that a “hospital” should offer overnight stays or even an emergency department.

However, several reputable reference works provide a definition that indicates the new facility need not offer overnight stays or an emergency department to be termed “a hospital”.

Deputy Premier and Member for Murrumba Stephen Miles said in September that the Kallangur Satellite hospital is specifically designed to deliver health care to local residents where they live.

“It will reduce travel times for residents who currently need to visit major hospitals further away,” he said.

On top of the Satellite Hospitals Program, The Queensland government is also investing be announced after the community consultations and the government decision-making process have been completed.

$9.78 billion on a building drive that will deliver three new hospitals, 11 hospital extensions and a new Queensland Cancer Centre.

Moreton Bay residents can look forward to an expanded bed capacity in the region, with 130 more beds at Caboolture and 204 extra beds at Redcliffe. On Brisbane’s northside, another 93 beds will be added to the Prince Charles Hospital.

The terminology used to name the new healthcare facility has been contentious, with the term “Satellite Hospital” causing confusion and comment in some quarters.

State opposition shadow minister for Health, Ros Bates, issued a statement early in 2021

For example, the Cambridge Dictionary defines a hospital as “a place where people who are very ill or injured are treated by doctors and nurses.” The Collins Dictionary states that a hospital is “an institution in which sick or injured persons are given medical or surgical treatment.”

No matter what lettering is used on the front gate of the new healthcare facility on Dohles Rocks road, the government expects the service to help take pressure off emergency departments and provide hospital care closer to home for local residents.