The $2 million upgrade of Gunnedah District Hospital is now complete.
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The final stage of the three-tiered project delivered a new state-of-the-art kitchen, with the hospital’s hotel services staff to move into the facility on Monday.
The kitchen is an entirely new part of the hospital building, with construction starting in February. The project was delivered as a result of a partnership between Hunter New England Health (HNEH) and NSW Health Share.
HNEH’s Kylie Whitford said the fit-out was funded by NSW Health Share and the infrastructure was funded by HNEH.
The new section contains a wash-bay area, plate-up area, coolroom, freezer, catering office, cleaner’s room and dry store room.
The project has brought the hospital up-to-date with current food safety standards and introduced the latest technology.
NSW Health Share’s Brian Logan had a hand in the planning and basic design of the kitchen.
“Very few kitchen developments have been done where we’ve been able to work with the local health district,” he said.
“It's bringing a lot of the decisions back to Gunnedah for what Gunnedah needs.
“We want to change and move with the times.”
Mr Logan said “the old system doesn’t work” and new innovative technology was required to meet the changing needs of patients.
“We have in excess of 100 different diets that we need to do,” he said.
“It’s bringing in technology to do better what we do for the patients.”
Touch screen technology will come into play next year, enabling patients to order meals from their bedside, with the information then relayed to a touch screen board in the kitchen.
“The advantage of that is it brings it down to a two-hour time frame,” Mr Logan said.
Mr Logan said this would be a time and cost-saving measure as patient’s diets can change throughout the day because of medications and instructions from doctors. Clinical staff will also have access.
Other innovative technology includes pods, which heat food and keep it at a consistent temperature, reducing the risk of food borne illness.
“The technology here is so much more advanced than a lot of places, even overseas,” Mr Logan said.
Member for Tamworth, Kevin Anderson, said the kitchen was “five-star” and a great example of “what we work so hard for”.
“It’s great to see the completion of the $2 million upgrade,” Mr Anderson said.
“Our local communities deserve the same world class health facilities as those in the city and these upgrades to Gunnedah Hospital are just that.”