Single children's hospital for Queensland

In August 2006, Premier Peter Beattie announced the Government’s decision to build a single purpose built Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH) located on Mater’s South Brisbane campus to be opened from 2011.

The hospital will provide for the state’s paediatric health care requirements and offers a number of opportunities to fill areas of need that in the past have been limited, such as developing adolescent health care services and paediatric research.

The decision followed a comprehensive review of paediatric cardiac services in Queensland, which found there was a fragmentation of paediatric tertiary services, staff shortages and inefficiencies that a new single facility would help overcome.

It was further announced in May 2007, that the new $700 million QCH will be run by a joint Queensland Health and Mater Health Services board. The seven-member board will include three Queensland Health and three Mater nominees. The Health Minister will appoint the chair following an agreement with Mater.

Under this arrangement, the new hospital will be a Queensland Health facility and staff will be Queensland Health employees. However, transitional arrangements will be available for Mater employees who wish to remain so when QCH opens.

The Mater Health Services Board and CEO are committed to working with the government to deliver a single children’s hospital for the state of Queensland.

“There are many challenges ahead as we move forward to develop the Queensland Children’s Hospital but together, we are committed to delivering a holistic family-centred paediatric service that will support children and young people across the state,” CEO Dr John O’Donnell said.

“The Queensland Children's Hospital is an exciting step forward for the future of paediatric health care in Queensland,” he said.

The Mater Children’s Private Hospital (MCPH) will remain operational and is expected to expand in the future given the development of the Queensland Children’s Hospital on the Mater campus.

For further information about the QCH Project, please visit www.health.qld.gov.au/childrenshospital.