The Gold Coast is finally getting its new hospital.

It’s to be called the Gold Coast University Hospital and will not only provide medical care but also act as a medical training facility.

Harriet Harvey reports.

TRANSCRIPT

The new Gold Coast hospital was due to open in December last year but that was delayed because the developer ran into financial difficulties.

Now the work’s done and today, patients and staff began the long awaited move from the nearby, old hospital, in Southport.

More than 140 patients were moved today using buses, taxis and ambulances.

The more seriously ill patients will follow tomorrow.

Michael Allsopp, Director University Hospital Gold Coast Project: “There will be more ambulance staff involved with the critical patients. It will be a slower move for those patients.”

If moving the patients, staff and furniture wasn’t hard enough. The transport team also have to contend with the tram line construction.

However everything ran smoothly and on time with patients arriving every five to 10 minutes.

The new hospital has space for 750 patients, all housed in their own rooms.

There are a number of modern design features, including having pharmacists based in every ward.

Michael Allsopp, Director University Hospital Gold Coast Project: “This hospital makes the Gold Coast a city in its own right. So what we will be able to treat here is 97 per cent of all illnesses that present for Gold Coast people.”

The only patients the new hospital can’t deal with are those with severe burns and those needing organ transplants.

The new hospital will open tomorrow at 8am.

Harriet Harvey, QUT News.