Construction has been completed on a $3.1 million, state-of-the-art Command Centre at Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
The focus of the purpose-built centre is to ensure local patients have access to a hospital bed when needed, as it gives staff a service-wide view of bed demand, capacity and patient flow.
Queensland Ambulance Service staff will also be based within the Command Centre, allowing the two services to work closely together and ensuring patients receive care in the most appropriate place. The project includes a $1.9 million investment in infrastructure and information and communications technology improvements for other Sunshine Coast Health facilities to link in.
Data across April, May and June 2023 reveals 53,804 people accessed a Sunshine Coast Health emergency department.
This included 10 per cent more Category 1 presentations, compared with the same period in 2022.
Sunshine Coast Health chief executive Dr Peter Gillies says the new Command Centre uses real-time data and modelling to monitor and coordinate patient arrivals, admissions and departures.
“It means we can help ensure a patient’s journey to the hospital, their care within the hospital, and their discharge is as seamless as possible, with many different health professionals involved in the care along the way,” he says.
“This state-of-the-art facility will not only support the day-to-day, overall operational management for our hospitals, providing a better experience for patients, but it also integrates with our emergency response service, meaning Sunshine Coast Health will be further supported in any internal or external emergency. I want to thank our dedicated Sunshine Coast Health clinicians, Queensland Ambulance Service, and support teams for the work they do to provide high-quality person-centred care.”
