Categories:
A new era in healthcare on the Gold Coast has begun with the launch of Mater Private Hospital Gold Coast.
Mater takes over the Southport hospital, previously Gold Coast Private Hospital, seven months after being announced as its successful bidder during the Healthscope receiver sales process.
Mater is now the first private hospital group to complete the purchase of a Healthscope asset, delivering job security for the hospital's 1400 staff and ensuring the future of key private health services for the Gold Coast, including private maternity.
Mater is Queensland's largest not-for-profit healthcare provider and Mater Private Hospital Gold Coast is the 13th hospital in its statewide network — which was founded 120 years ago in Brisbane.
Mater Board Chair Patrick Brady said the new hospital would continue to deliver outstanding medical care to the community, but its impact will evolve and expand with Mater.
"Mater has been a much-loved institution in Brisbane and beyond for 120 years and we are thrilled to have now arrived on the Gold Coast," Mr Brady said.
"It's a huge moment for Mater and the start of a new era in healthcare for the Gold Coast.
"Our mission is to serve the community and provide compassionate care to those most in need.
"Every patient at Mater Private Hospital Gold Coast is now supported by the full strength of the Mater network, which includes our renowned, nation-leading maternity and perinatal services.
"Over time, the community will see expanded services, new specialists, in-hospital medical research and clinical trials with the potential to change and save lives."
Mater leaders visited the hospital's wards today for the start of week one, unveiling the hospital's new entrance sign before greeting staff in their fresh Mater uniforms and meeting new mums and babies in the maternity unit.
Nurse Emma Borsboom said she and her colleagues were looking forward to joining the statewide Mater family, which now numbers more than 14,000 staff.
"We are really looking forward to becoming part of Mater," Ms Borsboom said.
"Mater has such a long and rich history. It's an exciting time for us — the start of a new era for our hospital and for Mater."
Gold Coast Private Hospital was built in 2016, adjacent to the Gold Coast University Hospital campus, and today has 339 patient beds.
The facility admits almost 50,000 patients a year and its clinical and surgical specialties—including maternity and obstetrics, cardiac surgery, intensive care and emergency services—align closely with services delivered at Mater hospitals.
Mater Group Chief Executive Julia Strickland-Bellamy said the hospital's acquisition by Mater had delivered long-term security for its staff and doctors, as well as confidence in the future of private health services for local patients and families.
"At a time when Australia is seeing extensive private hospital closures, Mater is continuing to grow and expand services across Queensland, strengthening its partnerships across the private and public health sectors," Ms Strickland-Bellamy said.
"In recent months we have opened a new public hospital in Springfield and opened a new 12-bed maternity unit in Townsville.
"We know that increasingly well-informed patients are actively seeking the safest, highest-quality healthcare—and they find that at Mater.
"Future parents can be assured that our maternity service is Australia's largest and provides Queensland families with access to exceptional, high-acuity pregnancy and neonatal care."
Up to 12,000 babies a year are born at Mater's existing hospitals, while around 600 babies were delivered annually at Gold Coast Private Hospital.
Brisbane's Mater Mothers' Hospital is home to the largest Neonatal Critical Care Unit in Queensland, while its Maternal Fetal Medicine department is globally recognised for specialist care of unborn babies and is the only Australian centre for in-utero spina bifida surgery.
Mater is also a recognised leader in women's cancer services and research. One in four Queensland women diagnosed with breast cancer and more than half of the state's gynaecological cancer patients are treated at Mater hospitals.
Revenues from across Mater's network, and funds raised by Mater Foundation, are invested back into services, equipment and research that benefits patients and the community.
Mater Foundation grants almost $15 million a year to Mater Research and more than $30 million a year to Mater hospitals to support services and investment in leading technology, including 3D imaging systems for neurosurgery, warming beds for premature babies and catheter lab systems to detect and treat cardiac problems.
Mater Research is one of Australia's most successful hospital-embedded medical research institutes, with 300 researchers working to improve outcomes for mothers and babies, cancer patients and those living with severe neurological conditions.
Mater patients are enrolled in more than 250 clinical trials. Researchers have made key breakthroughs in understanding COVID-19 and cerebral palsy and are developing cancer vaccines to fight ovarian cancer.
Mater Education, Queensland's largest hospital-based registered training organisation, has trained more than 2,600 enrolled nurses and upskilled more than 11,000 healthcare staff through professional development courses.
Mater's mission also includes improving outcomes for First Nations families and delivering frontline care for Queensland's refugee communities.
"Mater is a very special organisation and has made an immense contribution to the health and wellbeing of generations of Queenslanders," Ms Strickland-Bellamy said.
"We are so proud to have arrived on the Gold Coast and promise that we will always put its patients and families first."
