09 Apr, 2010 04:00 AM
THE owners of Maitland Private Hospital have foreshadowed further expansion of the hospital to cater for surging population growth in the Lower Hunter.
Health Care chief operating officer Steve Atkins said the recently approved $5.5 million redevelopment was designed to meet demand.
"We know that a lot of people from Maitland, Singleton and Cessnock are travelling to Newcastle and Sydney for health care," he said.
"This expansion is really oriented towards that demand, which is going elsewhere, as opposed to future population growth."
Maitland has been the fastest growing inland centre of NSW for almost a decade.
Stage one of the redevelopment, which recently received development application approval will take the hospital's total bed capacity to 84.
A third operating theatre opened last year.
The centre opened in 2002 and Mr Atkins said the hospital had inbuilt capacity for further expansion in response to population growth.
"We expect with the extra beds coming online, which is a combination of surgery, rehabilitation and medical, that we will be able to commission that fourth theatre at some stage in the future," Mr Atkins said.
The growth in private health sector comes despite the Maitland area having a lower than average number of people with private health insurance, 41.2 per cent, compared with 52.4 per cent for the Hunter.
Mr Atkins said the private hospital's growth would complement services provided in the public sector.
Maitland Hospital has about 200 beds and provides services ranging from emergency care, surgery, maternity and community health services across the Lower Hunter.
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All these improvement in Maitland Private Hospitals will greatly helps the population growth problem.
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