Hospital rooftops are not often places where you go to celebrate but on Friday that is exactly what the team behind the long-awaited Dubbo Hospital redevelopment did as they gathered to mark a construction milestone.
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At 20 metres off the ground, the top of the new three-storey clinical building was the place to be because construction of it reached a high point.
A topping-out ceremony was held and attended by state Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders, who said the ceremony was an old building tradition marking the highest point of construction with the placement of a tree at the top of the structure.
"The new building will enable Dubbo Hospital's highly-valued health staff to provide the very best care... for years to come," Mr Saunders said.
"Today marks an important milestone... and it comes just days after the NSW budget provided more than $40 million to continue stages three and four of the project."
When stage four of the project is finished, the new building will include an emergency department and short stay, medical imaging and stroke units.
Ambulatory, coronary and intensive care units will also be in the building, along with a cardiac catheter laboratory.
Dubbo Hospital's general manager Debbie Bickerton said a new renal dialysis unit was also being built above the current extended day surgery unit in the Talbragar Building.
"This will be followed by construction of the new $35 million Western Cancer Centre, which includes a $25 million contribution from the Australian Government," she said.
Construction work is expected to be completed in 2021 and a new $30 million hospital car park will also be built to complement the redeveloped hospital.
Mr Saunders said there was money in the NSW budget for the car park and it would be funded in stages which included planning, scoping, engineering and construction.
"The NSW Nationals and Liberal Government is committed to the project and funds will be allocated as the project develops," he said.
"The full $30 million has been accounted for in the budget."
Seventy spaces in a new 131-space car park were opened to patients in March, with the rest to become available to the public when stage four of construction is complete.
