Geraldton Hospital to get new $500,000 CT scanner this year

Geraldton Hospital will get a new $500,000 64-slice CT scanner in the next three to six months, State Health Minister Roger Cook announced today.

The funding is on top of $83.5 million announced in the State Budget for health in Geraldton.

This includes $73.3 million over the next five years to expand the hospital’s emergency department and critical care unit, build an acute psychiatric unit, build a mental health short stay unit and upgrade existing infrastructure.

A 10-bed mental health facility located off campus also received $10.2 million in the Budget.

Mr Cook, who visited the hospital today, said construction of the off-campus facility would begin by the end of next year.

He said project planning for the hospital’s redevelopment, which would create 18 mental health beds, had started and the redevelopment was expected to be complete in 2022, depending on engineering work.

Mr Cook also officially opened the Protea Lodge cancer hostel, located next to the Midwest Cancer Centre, which provides seven double-rooms to accommodate cancer patients and their carers from remote Mid West communities.

The Federal Government provided $1.38 million to build the hostel, while the State Government will provide recurrent funding for its operation.

Mr Cook said he wanted to reduce the number of people travelling to Perth for mental health care.