St Vincents is the oldest most established private hospital in Toowoomba, a large regional city on the Darling Downs in Qld west of Brisbane. The Sisters of Charity organisation own it. It is one of two large hospitals for the region covering the city and a large rural area. It was a general hospital with a HDU and very large maternity unit.
Prior to the opening of emergency, all major private work was done at the public base hospital, as it was the only hospital with medical cover on site. We opened the Emergency Centre in March 99 after doing extensive homework on the feasibility of the centre during 98.
The operational contract formally commenced in Dec 98 so it was a fast opening once the decision was made. Recruiting of appropriate doctors was very difficult because of the national shortage of emergency doctors. The unit was formally launched by the Bishop on the 1st of March 1999 and has been busy since and growing every month. The hospital experienced significant VMO interest when the project was announced and many specialists in town moved their rooms to the hospital specialist centre just prior to opening. Since the opening of the centre the occupancy of the hospital has increased dramatically. Recent major extensions were announced for a long term building program underpinned by the activity of the Emergency Centre. There is a new Emergency unit in these plans.
In December 2005, the EC was re structured to give complete management control to the Emergency doctor group, who formed a new company to manage the facility. Impact’s role ceased on Dec 1st 2005.
Impact Healthcare
