Dubbo and district residents will help determine the look and feel of key public areas in the three-storey building set to be constructed under the $150 million stage three and four redevelopment of the city’s public hospital.
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They have been invited to have their say at a community meeting from 10am to 12.30pm on Tuesday at Dubbo’s Macquarie Club.
Dubbo Hospital general manager Debbie Bickerton wants Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to take up the “unique opportunity”. “Everyone is welcome to come along on Tuesday, February 28,, including people from nearby towns like Wellington, Trangie, Gilgandra, Narromine and Geurie,” she said. “Their participation and input will help to inform the design of the hospital.”
The layout, colour and furnishings of “each room and key public spaces” will be up for discussion along with the building’s main entrance and foyer, drop-off zone at the main entrance, outdoor courtyards, quiet rooms and public waiting areas.
“The gathering next Tuesday at the Macquarie Club is also an opportunity for the redevelopment team to find out what types of artwork, landscaping and signage could help to improve the patient and visitor experience and make everyone feel welcome,” Ms Bickerton said. Meeting participants will also be able to see the schematic design plans for stage three and four redevelopment. They were recently shown to residents of Nyngan, Bourke, Walgett and Coonamble as part of a roadshow that drew “valuable input”.
The schematic design plans and artist impressions of stage three and four redevelopment were unveiled in Dubbo late last year by former NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner and Member for Dubbo Troy Grant. A January 2015 commitment of $150 million to stage three and four redevelopment has led to “extensive planning and consultation with key health and community representatives”.
Stage three and four redevelopment is beginning with the construction of a third floor on the hospital’s clinical services building. It was constructed under the $91.3 million stage one and two redevelopment.
In late January Mr Grant advised that Hansen Yuncken Pty Ltd had won the tender for construction of the extra floor and work was “due to begin in the next few weeks”. Health Infrastructure has reported that the extra floor will take about 12 months to build. The hospital’s second three-storey building, to appear in the south-eastern corner of its campus, will accommodate multiple clinical units including emergency, medical imaging and renal dialysis. A “critical care floor” will include a coronary care/stroke unit, intensive care unit and cardiac catheter laboratory.
