Health Minister Jillian Skinner and Member for Orange Andrew Gee were in Forbes on Monday to see the progress of the new Forbes Hospital building.
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The new building is scheduled for completion in the coming weeks with staff hoping to move over there in about 10 weeks.
The refurbishment of the Forbes Hospital renal and ambulatory care units will then begin.
Mrs Skinner was pleased with the progress on site and how modern the new facility is.
“This is really a new hospital, it’s beyond our wildest dreams,” she said.
“It is a state-of-the-art facility ... this is as good as it gets.”
Mrs Skinner was particularly impressed by the new maternity unit, which features fantastic birthing suites and a huge birthing bath.
“This is marvelous, particularly the maternity unit here,” she said.
“Women delivering babies will have as good a facility as you get anywhere in NSW.”
Mr Gee was equally impressed and said it was great to be given the opportunity to see the project as it nears completion.
“This is a world-class facility, in fact, it’s better than many Sydney hospitals that I’ve seen,” he said.
“This is what people expect and what they deserve. It’s a wonderful thing for Forbes and I’m so excited to see it finally coming together.”
Forbes deputy mayor Graeme Miller also attended the visit and encourages the community to go along to the upcoming public open day for an opportunity to see for themselves how great the new hospital is.
“It’s a great result,” he said. “I just think the residents of Forbes will be very pleased.”
The new building and the refurbishment of Forbes Hospital includes an emergency department and inpatient unit, birthing suites for maternity services, clinical support services including medical imaging and an upgraded ambulatory care unit and expanded renal and dental facilities.
“The completion of the new building will be a very exciting milestone for the people of Forbes, who have been eagerly anticipating this moment since planning commended in 2012,” Mrs Skinner said.
The Lachlan Health project is scheduled for completion in early 2016.
The Forbes community will have the opportunity to tour the new hospital building before it is occupied at a public open day on a date to be advised.