May 13, 2016
The first procedures will be carried out at the Lady Bjelke-Petersen Community Hospital in Kingaroy in two weeks.
New operators South Bank Day Hospital said on Thursday they had been successful in obtaining approval from Queensland Health to provide paediatric dental services at the facility.
The first list has been secured after a successful tender with the Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service, and treatments will begin on May 26.
Other services at the hospital are expected to start in late July.
South Bank Day Hospital said local community response to job applications for new positions at the Community Hospital had proven overwhelming.
Nearly 200 job applications have been received.
Interviews for clinical staff have been completed and South Bank management are now working through the administration, maintenance and housekeeping roles.
This week, local nurse Amy Smith was one of the hospital’s first new employees to start work.
She has begun clinical training and education at South Bank Day Hospital in Brisbane to learn about the processes and systems that will be put in place at the Community Hospital.
Her training marks the first stage of interaction between both facilities.
In future, South Bank hope staff will have the opportunity to swap between the two sites for ongoing learning and education.
Amy, from Kingaroy, graduated as an enrolled nurse in December 2015 and has since completed agency nursing in Toowoomba, working in aged care.
She will initially start work in the admission clinic.
Her role will then include work in the first and second stage recovery areas, attached to three operating theatres specialising in ophthalmology, maxillo-facial, dermatology and plastic surgery.
Amy’s onsite training will enable her to work in these areas for the first operating list at the Community Hospital on May 26.
For Amy, who wants to become an oncology specialist nurse in the future, her new role is a dream come true.
“It’s an honour to be a nurse, especially in a rural area. I believe everyone deserves the right to quality health care when they need it,” Amy said.
“This newly opened hospital will really help so many locals in the community. Having travelled long distances for care as a sick teenager, I understand first hand that there’s nothing worse than travelling when you are unwell.
“I absolutely love what I do and to have the opportunity to work at the hospital with a local community I’m so passionate about is just amazing.”
