Sensational-Adelaide.com

The SA Opposition has unveiled its plan for a redeveloped Royal Adelaide Hospital

GREG KELTON, STATE EDITOR

March 23, 2009 01:00pm

BREAKING NEWS: THE Opposition has unveiled its plans for the Royal Adelaide Hospital, saving up to $900 million on the Government's West End proposal.

Opposition Leader Martin Hamilton-Smith has unveiled the plans saying all three options represented a better investment in public health than the Government's railway yards proposal.
He said the Liberals' plans would lift bed capacity at the RAH to 800.

The launch of the party's RAH plans come as an Advertiser poll shows a majority of voters want the existing hospital redeveloped instead of a new $1.7 billion hospital in the city's West End.


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The hospital issue is looming as a central election issue for the 2010 state election with the Government proposing a brand new hospital and the Liberals calling for redevelopment.
Doctors' groups are also opposing the new hospital.

The Liberals' options are:

MULTI-STOREY buildings at the north, south and eastern parts of the current RAH site with demolition of the old nurses' quarters and east wing. Involves the return of some land to the Botanic Gardens. Total cost $1.4 billion with a saving of at least $300 million.

L-SHAPED multi-storey building on the north of the site, demolition of R wing and East wing, underground parking and return of land to Botanic Gardens. Cost: $950 million with total saving of $750 million.

MULTI-STOREY outpatient facility on North Tce car park area and new inpatient facility to replace demolished R wing at the rear of the current site. Cost: $800 million with saving of at least $900 million.

Mr Hamilton-Smith said the Opposition had spent the past 18 months consulting with hospital construction experts, cost estimators and medical professionals on the best way forward for the RAH.

"Labor's plan has the potential to become a financial disaster," he said.

"As it stands, it will cost taxpayers a million dollars a day, every day until 2046.

"A baby born in hospital today will be 37 by the time the railyards vision is paid off and its parents will be in their 60s."

Opposition health spokeswoman Vickie Chapman said the RAH rebuild could be done in a timeframe equal to, or better, than that proposed for the railyards project.

Health Minister John Hill is defending the new hospital plans against claims it is going to built on an earthquake fault line.

He said the Government would build a hospital that would not only survive an earthquake but would remain operational afterwards.

Mr Hill described Liberal plans for the RAH as a "patch-up job".

"It's time they told the truth – their proposals, such as they are, would cost more, take longer and wouldn't even increase the capacity of the hospital or improve the outdated facilities," he said.

Shuz wrote:I love how every single Liberals plan or project is just utter shit. They cannot seem to deliver or do anything right. Sod off. New hospital thanks.

crawf wrote:While I support the idea of redeveloping the RAH, this plan looks kinda cheap and something from Sim City.

Plus I don't like the idea of reducing the size of the RAH and returning the land to botanic gardens. The hospital needs to be redeveloped and expanded, or relocated to another location (excluding the railway yards).

Plans to rebuild RAH 'half-baked'

Royal Adelaide Hospital
SA Govt says the Opposition's plans to rebuild the RAH are flawed. (ABC News)

The South Australian Government says the Opposition's plans to rebuild the Royal Adelaide Hospital are flawed.

The Opposition has unveiled three options to rebuild and refurbish the hospital, with the most expensive plan to cost $1.4 billion.

That option includes new buildings at the north, south and east of the hospital, with the demolition of the nurse's quarters and east wing.

Options two and three are less ambitious.

The Opposition leader, Martin Hamilton-Smith, says any of the three options would cost less than the Government's $1.7 billion new hospital.

"It would be half a billion dollars cheaper, possibly up to a billion dollars cheaper," he said.

The Health Minister, John Hill, says the Opposition's plan does not include more beds or take into account the need to replace outdated water and electricity infrastructure.

"The propositions they put forward ignore all of the major engineering infrastructure work that has to happen, it's like repairing a car by putting in new windows but not looking under the hood," he said.

"What they're doing with the $1.4 billion proposition is ignoring all of the infrastructure problems, the electricity services, the airconditioning, the water supply, the heating and so on."

The Opposition says it would consult publicly after next year's election.