Queensland and Mater Health to build new hospital in Springfield Ipswich

A sick joke! Annastacia Palaszczuk announces a new hospital will be built in southeast Queensland to combat emergency department crisis – but refuses to answer one critical question

  • Queensland Government and Mater Health will build new hospital in partnership 
  • The facility will be based in Springfield near Ipswich in the state’s southeast
  • Premier refused to be drawn on how the government would fund the hospital
  • The hospital will have 174 beds and cost between $300-320 million


A new hospital will be built in Queensland’s booming southeast corridor as the state’s emergency department capacity crisis goes from bad to worse.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the new hospital will be built in partnership with private firm Mater Health in Springfield, a former satellite city of Ipswich.

The facility will have 174 beds, with the state government to allocate $177 million towards it in next month’s budget, and will be operational by the second half of 2024.

The premier refused to say where the funding would come from when asked if it would be withdrawn from other areas of the health system. 

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announces a new hospital will be built in Springfield in the state’s southeast

‘We know that this is a fast-growing community – we need extra beds,’ she said on Monday.

‘So today I’m pleased to announce that as our first significant budget announcement, we will be investing in building 174 new beds in the public hospital here at Springfield.

‘This will include of course, our emergency beds … but of course maternity services are also needed out in this area, a lot of young families are moving here and you can’t blame them. It is a beautiful place to live, work and raise your family.’

The total cost will be about $300-320 million with Mater Health still in commercial negotiations about funding the remainder.

Ms Palaszczuk said the new beds will mean a total of 800 beds will come online in the next four to five years.

That’s less than half of the 1500 beds needed right now, according to the Australian Medical Association Queensland.

Surging demand for beds in recent months has caused a spike in ambulance ramping – when patients are treated in ambulances on hospital driveways until beds become available.

The Palaszczuk government has announced that it will partner with Mater Health Services to build a new 174 bed public hospital in Springfield.

The Palaszczuk government has announced that it will partner with Mater Health Services to build a new 174 bed public hospital in Springfield.

More than 1.39 million people presented at hospital emergency departments between July 1, 2020, and January 31, 2021, an 11.6 per cent increase over the previous period.

The Queensland government has already redirected $100 million in funding from the health budget to increase capacity in the state’s struggling public hospitals.

The premier said she will announce more budget funding for beds at Nambour Hospital on the Sunshine Coast, and in rural and regional areas, in coming days.

When asked if she could guarantee that no money would be withdrawn from parts of the health system to fund the new beds, Ms Palaszczuk sidestepped the question.

‘I can absolutely guarantee that we will have a record health budget with a big focus on health infrastructure and delivering the services that families need across our state,’ the premier said.

The state budget is set to be delivered on June 15.