Private Hospital Opens With A Smile

20160822 Lady Bjelke-Petersen Hospital — Federal Member for Maranoa David Littleproud, Lady (Florence) Bjelke-Petersen, South Bank Day Hospital Executive Director Prof Mark Radford and South Burnett Community Hospital Foundation chairman and former South Burnett mayor Wayne Kratzmann

August 23, 2016

The rollercoaster ride that has been the recent history of Kingaroy’s private hospital ended in smiles on Monday morning with the official opening of the new Lady Bjelke-Petersen Community Hospital.

The hospital is being managed by Brisbane-based South Bank Day Hospital, and dental, opthamalogy and gastroenterology patients have already begun to receive treatments.

Former South Burnett mayor Wayne Kratzmann, who is chairman of the fund-raising South Burnett Community Hospital Foundation, sent his heartfelt thanks to the 10,500 people who signed the petition launched by Council in July last year to save the hospital.

“To the South Burnett community, my heartfelt thanks because you got us here,” Mr Kratzmann said at the opening ceremony.

He also thanked Hancock Prospecting and businesswoman Gina Rinehart whose $600,000 donation has kickstarted fundraising by the Foundation to purchase equipment for the hospital.

South Bank Day Hospital Executive Director Prof Mark Radford said that when then-Mayor Kratzmann and Council Economic Development Manager Phil Harding came to see him in February he had “no idea” where the journey would end up.

He admitted that at first he had a lot of reservations.

But when he came to Kingaroy to inspect the building, it became the the first of a number of visits over a series of months that demonstrated to him the potential the hospital has.

“I became excited,” he said.

Prof Radford said the Lady Bjelke-Petersen Community Hospital fitted in well with South Bank Day Hospital’s mission and belief that regional communities should have good access to health care.

“Kingaroy is perfectly positioned to be the centre of health care in this part of Queensland,” he said.

He said his team was now working towards introducing gynaecological, paediatric, orthopaedic and oncological services, and eventually hoped to offer palliative care.

The hospital was officially opened by recently elected Member for Maranoa David Littleproud who said he felt very honoured to be asked to do the task.

He recalled that his father Brian had been a proud member of the Bjelke-Petersen State Government.

“Lady Bjelke-Petersen in my mind – and in my family’s mind – is Queensland royalty,” he said.

South Burnett Mayor Keith Campbell re-iterated the thanks to Gina Rinehart and Hancock Prospecting, but also praised his predecessor for his ability to rally the community and to find a solution.

“Thank you Kratzie for your amazing effort,” Mayor Campbell said.

FOOTNOTE: Prof Radford recently discovered he had a family connection to the South Burnett: “When I first visited Kingaroy … I talked to my mother and she said ‘Do you realise that your great-aunt Aunty Nell lived and worked in Kingaroy?’.” “Aunty Nell” was, in fact, surgeon Dr Ellen Mary Kent Hughes, a former Kingaroy Shire Councillor and the first woman in Local Government in Queensland. The Town Hall Forecourt in Kingaroy is named after Dr Kent Hughes, and a memorial scholarship in her name has recently been launched in the South Burnett.