As part of the planning and design process for Canberra Hospital Expansion Project, the Territory has established several consultative groups. The groups are meeting on a regular basis during the Project’s early planning and design phase and their feedback assists to inform this phase of the early design process.
Clinical engagement
We have been working closely with clinical and operational staff to ensure the design and functionality of the new facility is made to clinical, technical and operational requirements. Engagement with these healthcare professionals covers two key aspects of the project management:
Clinical Advisory Group
The Clinical Advisory Group is an investigative and decision-making body around planning, policy and strategy for the project. The group considers and moderates the interests of the broader workforce and works collaboratively to ensure that the service and facility user requirements, or operational requirements, are accurately reflected in the project design.
Clinical User Groups
In addition to the Clinical Advisory Group, there are 10 Clinical User Groups focusing on the:
- Emergency Department
- Intensive Care Unit
- Acute Cardiac Care Unit and Interventional Cardiac Laboratories
- Mental Health Short Stay Unit
- Perioperative and Interventional Suite
- Surgical Inpatient Unit
- Helipad
- Medical Imaging
- Loading dock
- Central Sterilisation
The expertise within each of these groups is being utilised to inform the design needs of each element of the facility’s service delivery.
Healthcare consumers
The Consumer Reference Group (CRG) is working to ensure the project design considers the needs of healthcare consumers and carers who will use the new facility.
The group provides guidance, advice and consumer (patients and carers) insights on matters of design, accessibility, safety (including cultural safety) and amenity in relation to the project.
Chaired by the President of the Health Care Consumers Association, the CGR group meets monthly and includes representatives from the following organisations:
- Health Care Consumers' Association
- Mental Health Consumers Network
- CHS Patient Experience Team
- Carers ACT
- Council of the Ageing (COTA)
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body
- Multicultural Advisory Council ACT
- People with Disabilities ACT.
Local community
We are invested in meaningful engagement with interested community members who would like to contribute to the conversation around the planning of this new facility.
A Local Community Reference Group (LCRG) was established in early 2020 to provide feedback during the design and construction process.
The Local Community Reference Group will be providing input into:
- Streetscaping so all elements fit cohesively together in the visual landscape
- Contributing to the urban design of the Project
- Collaborating with other Government organisations to address concerns around key traffic interfaces, to arrive at innovative solutions that meet the needs of the local community.
This reference group is a critical conduit between the project team and the community, to ensure local neighbourhood feedback during the design process is heard, such as undertaking further modelling of traffic movements and vehicle numbers in the area to inform the detailed design phase of the build.
Earlier conversations with the local community have identified the following areas of focus:
- Traffic
- Safety
- Urban design
- Delivery arrangements.
History of the Local Community Reference Group
In late 2019, the Minister for Health, Rachel Stephen-Smith MLA, called for expressions of interest from the Garran community to join the project’s Local Community Reference Group (LCRG).
A significant number of registrations were received to join the Local Community Reference Group (LCRG). This response reflected the interest the Garran community and local businesses have in the planning, design and delivery of the Canberra Hospital Expansion.
A community forum was held on 4 February 2020, and provided an opportunity for attendees to share their specific interests, concerns and aspirations associated with the Canberra Hospital Expansion. Feedback on specific interests and concerns raised at the first forum have been documented in a ‘What we heard’ report and have been used to guide the Local Community Reference Group’s meetings going forward.
LCRG members continue to meet monthly to address matters of interest of the local community, including urban design, safety and delivery arrangements. They are encouraged to share updates from these meetings with the people they are representing so information can be disseminated throughout the community.
