Some locals in the Adelaide Hills are “shocked” that a private community hospital that has served the community for almost a century may be moving.
The Stirling Hospital has acknowledged that it has been in contact with an Adelaide-based developer regarding relocating to the projected Mount Barker healthcare complex.
According to a review by the SA Health Licensing Unit, “significant building works to achieve compliance” are required for the hospital to keep its private healthcare facility license.
The considerable building work required to maintain compliance, according to Stirling Hospital Board Chair Cathy Miller, cost more than $50 million.
These renovations would entail expanding the hospital’s present operating rooms and the central sterilisation supply department, as well as improving the ventilation system and performing other necessary infrastructure work.
As a small, locally based not-for-profit hospital, Ms. Miller said, “that represents a significant level of operating capital.”
Relocating within the Adelaide Hills is currently the preferred alternative, and it has been our duty as a board to weigh and assess all viable options to bring the Hospital up to the requirements.
According to Ms. Miller, current estimates put the cost of constructing a new, specially designed facility at around $12 million.
It would undoubtedly be cutting edge, she said.
“And we would also be able to finance most of that, if not all of it, with the proceeds from the potential sale of the site,” the author continued.
She said the hospital would no longer be known as Stirling Hospital if it relocates to Mount Barker, which was the board’s current top choice.
We still haven’t decided on the new name, Ms. Miller said.
“We are a hospital for the Adelaide Hills, and that’s really what we’re trying to future-proof the hospital for, as well as acknowledge the excellent history of Stirling Hospital,” the hospital’s CEO said.
Since its opening in 1927, Stirling Hospital has provided healthcare to the neighborhood.
The proposed transfer has “shocked” the locals, according to Simon Jones, chairman of the Stirling Business Association.
Nobody anticipated this, he claimed, and it happened out of the blue.
To see if there is a way we can keep the hospital in Stirling, I would want to see some conversations between the hospital and the community.
The population of Stirling is older than that of many other places.
“For almost a century, we have relied on the hospital in many ways.”
Residents of Stirling, Aldgate, Bridgewater, Crafers, Heathfield, Piccadilly, and Uraidla, according to John Hill of the Stirling District Residents Association, will be impacted by the hospital’s relocation.
It is a sizable community that requires service, according to Mr. Hill.
“We don’t want to lose a hospital,” said the community. “A hospital is a very important part of the facilities available to a community of that size.”
Before formally stating its view, the board, according to Ms. Miller, needs to hear from a variety of people and reach a decision.
The hospital has been working with the SA Health Licensing Unit to make the necessary improvements in the interim so that it can carry on in the near- to medium-term.
Nothing currently or for the ensuing two years poses a threat to the staff’s or patients’ safety, according to Ms. Miller.
