The new South Tuggeranong health centre will be built in Conder, with services tailored to local needs and reflecting feedback from the South Tuggeranong community.
This new facility is the first of four new health centres, with another three coming to the Inner South, North Gungahlin and West Belconnen. They will provide localised multidisciplinary care with a focus on preventive care and advice, early intervention, and the management of chronic illness.
In the 2023-24 Budget, the ACT Government committed $16.6 million over four years to design and construct a new community-based facility in South Tuggeranong and plan the sites and early design for community-based health centres in the Inner South and North Gungahlin.
"We know that to cater for our growing city, we need a public health system that can provide the right care at the right time, in convenient locations across Canberra," said Chief Minister Andrew Barr.
"This new health centre will provide residents in South Tuggeranong with more health services, closer to home. This is part of our ongoing commitment to plan and build a health care system that can grow with our community, bringing together skilled professionals with state-of-the-art technology and quality infrastructure."
The location in Conder was identified following a 2022 feasibility study. It provides good connections for the community being close to arterial roads, having good access to public transport routes and accessible car parking. It is also close to other existing health facilities and services nearby, such as general practice, pharmacy, imaging, pathology, allied health and dental.
"We want to build on the success of our free and public community health services, such as child and family, mental health, walk-in centre and aged care services, by delivering more community-based health centres.
"This will allow Canberrans to access care closer to home and reduce the need to go to hospital for treatment and appointments," said Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith.
"We are seeing increased incidence of chronic illness, complex health conditions and an ageing population. That is why, in growing our community health services, we are establishing these new health centres that will provide the opportunity to bring together multidisciplinary and interprofessional services to support the care our community needs.
"The South Tuggeranong health centre will be designed to have the flexibility to cater for different services, allowing us to respond to the needs of the community now and into the future."
A tender has recently been released to progress the design of the health centre in South Tuggeranong. The clinical services and design will be finalised in consultation with clinicians, consumers and the local community before the project progresses to the development application stage, which is expected in the first half of 2024.
There will also be upcoming opportunities for local residents to have their say on health centres coming to the Inner South and North Gungahlin.
