Improved health facilities top of discussions

In Charters Towers Regional Council’s Corporate Plan 2021- 2025, improving health services through continued advocacy for State funding is highlighted as a priority.

To do this, Council has committed to be a strong and respected local government voice to promote and facilitate growth on behalf of the community.

In meetings held in Mackay on Friday, 8 July 2022 Charters Towers Regional Council’s Mayor met with Assistant Minister for Health, Julieanne Gilbert MP, to discuss the Region’s need for better health facilities.

Mayor Frank Beveridge said Council has and continues to advocate strongly for our Region.

“During our meeting, I was able to impress on the Minister that our health facilities are below the standard expected by our community.

“Our hospital, as a health and medical facility, is outdated and many of its treatments and service areas do not currently meet contemporary standards,” said Mayor Beveridge.

The current Charters Towers Hospital site has many limitations, including being heritage listed and no physical room to expand and develop new buildings.

Residents in our Region and the western Queensland communities of Hughenden and Richmond are having to conduct frequent travel to Townsville to receive essential, life-saving medical treatments, including computerised tomography (CT) scanning.

This puts additional pressure on the Townsville University Hospital to cope with additional patients and causes undue financial, physical, and emotional distress to travelling patients.

“Whilst we continue to push for a new hospital, a focus of our discussions was around the need for a CT scanner at the current facility now.

“I feel the meeting with Assistant Minister Gilbert was a very positive one and the need for CT scanning in our region, as a matter of priority, was well received,” Mayor Beveridge said.  

More information on Council’s visions and priorities for the Region’s future can be found at www.charterstowers.qld.gov.au/our-priorities, including Council’s Corporate Plan 2021 – 2025.