BEERWAH will have a health hub operating by early 2024, with construction of the $18 million Beerwah Health Hub due to commence in the coming weeks.
The hub will provide much needed healthcare resources for the Hinterland, with MyLocalDoc doubling their number of GPs as well as a new childcare centre and a new Veteran Hub for Sunshine Coast residents.
The increase of GPs will allow MyLocalDoc to service several thousand more patients every year in the hopes to reduce waiting times.
With between 130,000 – 140,000 people expected to move to the Sunshine Coast by 2040, the hub aims to keep up with the growing demand for services across the region.
Facilities within the centre will include MyLocalDoc moving to an expanded space to allow eight GPs to practice with an integrated pharmacy, a new Happy Hearts Childcare Centre and dental, optometry and allied health services.
Cornerstone Group managing director Simon Heazlewood said the health hub will ease those pressures.
“MyLocalDoc’s move to Beerwah Health Hub will enable them to expand their vision and offer integrated care for likeminded health care providers all within the same building,” he said.
“This will allow for eight fulltime GPs to operate from within this facility, to help support the currently underserviced Beerwah district and surrounding areas.
“We are excited to welcome the Happy Hearts Childcare Centre, that will accommodate more than 100 children… there is great pressure on childcare places across the region, and we expect this will be a welcome addition to the local families of Beerwah.”
MyLocalDoc managing director Ben Child said this project is great for the local medical practice, which has only been operating in Beerwah for 18 months and highlighted the community benefits.
“We are excited, and we’ve seen the clinic grow in the last 18 months and look forward to continue to partner with the community moving forward,” he said.
“This construction of the health hub will enable us to bring more doctors in and continue to facilitate and service the community.”
A café, which will double as a Sunshine Coast Veteran Hub, will also be built.
Young Veterans president Pete Kennedy, who also owns The Local Beerwah, will own and operate the new café sharing that it will be open for everybody.
“We saw the opportunity that if we have a café inside the health hub, why don’t we just combine the two and you end up with a safe space for veterans,” he said.
“From a veteran’s perspective, they know they will be able to come in and get advocacy and welfare, plus we will be able to assist them in the health hub, seeing doctors and all the specialists and allied health. You’ve got a one stop shop.
“We will also provide training for our veterans who want to do barista courses or back of house courses, there are different avenues and streams to help veterans, which for me is really exciting.”
Cornerstone Group Development Manager Dan Moller said there will be 70 new carparks across the two levels of parking to accommodate patients, customers and staff who will use the centre.
“There’s convenient drive-in access to the childcare level so parents will be able to drop of their children to the door of the centre as well as parking, as well as undercover ground floor parking,” he said.
“We are aiming to minimise disruption during construction, we will be largely off the street but hopefully during that process it will be very minimal since we are able to be contained on the site.”