Minister says we'll see a new hospital within four years
Health Minister Brad Hazzard says Cowra residents will see a new hospital within four years.
Mr Hazzard made the statement on Wednesday announcing $70 million would go towards new and refurbished buildings on the site of the current hospital in Liverpool Street.
The money, Mr Hazzard said, has been allocated to the project regardless of which party is in power after the NSW state election.
"This money has been put aside in the budget and it will continue regardless," he said.
"At the government's request Health Infrastructure has been working with the Local Health District and looking at what the estimates are and the advice we have in allocating taxpayers dollars is based on the information from Health Infrastructure.
"I would expect to see construction commencing within the next year, year and a half. The building will be up and you will see it towards the end of the next three and a half, four years and operational in the next four and a half, five years," he said.
Member for Cootamundra, Steph Cooke, joined Mr Hazzard in making the announcement saying she looked forward to seeing what lay ahead.
"This has been an absolute joint effort between myself, local government and the local community," she said.
"We know how important it is that we have the right health services here, not just for now but the generations to come.
"This has been a concerted effort by me and my team over the last 18 months, but I simply couldn't have done it without the help and support of Cowra and the district," she said.
CEO of Western Area Health, Scott McLachlan, said the money would allow them to begin the next stages of planning.
"We've already stepped through developing a clinical services plan and a master plan for this site," he said.
"We'll now need to step into more formalized planning to look at the configurations of a new hospital, whether we do utilize this current facility or look to do something at the back of the site.
"We have to look at all our options, we have some broad options on the table from our master planning but we don't have a locked down plan.
"We'll need to go through the next stages of planning to identify the total impact of the $70 million investment."
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