Member for Schubert Stephan Knoll and Health Minister Stephen Wade outside the Gawler Hospital Emergency Department in October last year. PHOTO: File
Brendan Simpkins
THE expansion of Gawler Hospital’s emergency department (ED) is making progress – despite construction being still more than a year away.
Health Minister Stephen Wade announced last Friday that an architect had been appointed to design the bigger ED following a tender process.
Adelaide-based architectural practice DesignInc has been appointed as lead architect for the project, with support from Destravis, a Queensland consulting firm specialising in health and research projects.
The announcement came almost six months after an expansion to the ED was touted by Mr Wade.
In October, he made the surprise announcement that $15 million would be committed towards the project as part of the 2020-21 State Budget.
Mr Wade said on Friday that the new ED would ensure the hospital was “better equipped to meet growing demand”.
“The upgrade and expansion to the Gawler Health Service ED will play a critical role in meeting emergency demand in the region and will benefit thousands of patients in need of urgent, life-saving care,” he said.
Barossa Hills Fleurieu Local Health Network chief executive officer Rebecca Graham said the new ED would help meet the demand of emergency services in Gawler and surrounding communities.
“We know Gawler Health Service has a busy ED, with more than 15,500 emergency presentations in 2018-19, and we expect this figure will increase to more than 24,000 presentations by 2031,” she said.
Currently the ED has four treatment spaces, but that will increase to 15 through the expansion.
Two new resuscitation bays and three triage assessment rooms will also be a feature within the upgraded ED.
Sixty jobs will be created during the life of the project but construction is not expected to start until August next year.
Gawler’s population is expected to grow significantly over the next decade, with several property developments under way and more planned, including those on the town’s boundaries in Roseworthy and Concordia.
Speaking to The Bunyip when the project was announced last October, Mr Wade said the expansion was planning ahead for the expected population boom and increase in demand for the hospital. Options for the ED included a complete overhaul of the current site or moving it to another location.
The project formed part of a $42.8 million stimulus package to improve healthcare, announced in last year’s Budget.
An $58 million expansion of the nearby Lyell McEwin Hospital’s ED is also under way and expected to be completed next year.
