New Hospital Planned at the University of Canberra

The government of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT, Canberra, Australia) has signed an agreement with University of Canberra (UC; Australia) to build a new hospital on its campus.

The new UC Public Hospital will be built northwest of the university's Bruce campus, and will be part of an emerging health hub at the university (an expansion of the university’s student-led clinics), and will also include a new general practitioner (GP) super clinic and faculty of health. The UC public hospital will also include a national e-Health Living Laboratory which will be run in partnership with the Australian Information and Communications Technology Research Center of Excellence (NICTA; Sydney, Australia) in the GP super clinic building.

The new hospital will not have an emergency department (ED) and will not deliver acute services, such as surgery, but by focusing on new and expanded sub-acute services it will help to alleviate the pressures on acute facilities within the ACT region. The UC Public Hospital will also be a teaching facility, and will help extend and enable joint clinical training, teaching, and research opportunities between the University of Canberra and ACT Health. Slated for completion by 2018, the planning and design of the new hospital will be undertaken by Lyons Architecture (Melbourne, Australia).

“This is excellent news for Canberra, which secures a new hospital for our city and signals the start of an exciting partnership that integrates the University of Canberra with the provision of healthcare,” said Katy Gallagher, chief minister of the ACT. “The hospital will be a ‘sub-acute' facility offering a range of rehabilitation services, such as neurological rehabilitation and older persons' rehabilitation, as well as mental health services and day hospital services, such as hydrotherapy.”

“The University of Canberra already trains a significant proportion of the region's health workforce,” said Prof. Stephen Parker, vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra. “Our researchers are finding new ways to tackle the health problems our community faces and our staff and students are delivering health services to the community, locating a hospital on our campus builds our capacity to serve the community in all these areas.”

ACT is a territory in southeast Australia that is home to Australia’s capital, Canberra. It is the smaller of two self-governing internal territories in the country, the other being the Northern Territory.

Related Links:
Australian Capital Territory
University of Canberra
NICTA