Philippa Duncan, Mercury
THE welcome announcement that a new Royal Hobart Hospital will be built has prompted accusations of a massive State Government backflip. The state’s doctors, Tasmanian Greens and, at times, State Opposition have pushed hard for a new hospital at a greenfields site to replace the cramped and old RHH. Top RHH doctor Ray Lowenthal has predicted doctors and nurses “would come rushing back” to work in a modern, purpose-built building. “A new hospital would be more efficient, would attract top-quality staff and would surely result in better clinical outcomes — and fewer errors,” he argued this year. But up until yesterday the State Government had maintained a new hospital would be too expensive and the RHH should be rebuilt from the inside out. It committed more than $15 million to build a new underground emergency department that is nearing completion at the front of the RHH. And in July, work began on the infill building that will house two operating theatres, expansion of the neonatal intensive care unit and a pediatric intensive care unit.
