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"Walking together in kindness" artwork produced for Gold Coast Health by Riki Salam, We are 27 Creative.
A hospital begins taking shape long before its doors open.
It starts with decisions: how staff access medication, where equipment is positioned, how supplies move through the building and how patients find their way.
At Coomera, making these decisions draws on clinical, operational, infrastructure and technology expertise from across Gold Coast Health.
Meet some of the people bringing this complex project to life for the growing northern Gold Coast community.
Who does what?
Senior Director Chris Moores leads Gold Coast Health’s planning for the hospital, supported by Clinical Project Leads Lisa Siladyi and Michelle Havell, who bring nursing and frontline care experience to the design of clinical services.
Infrastructure Project Leads Amelia Jackson, Kathryn Morton and Brad Azzopardi lead different areas of planning. Amelia focuses on hospital operations, Kathryn on furniture, fittings and equipment, and Brad on the wider precinct and essential building services.
Senior Project Officers support detailed design engagement and operational readiness planning. The broader team also includes specialist advisers and a shared digital infrastructure team planning the technology and connected systems staff will use to communicate, access information and deliver care.
Their work is closely connected. A change to one room can affect its equipment, technology, building services and the way people move through the space.
How are staff shaping the design?
Every room must work for the people who will use it.
Across the hospital’s clinical, support and public spaces, getting the layouts and connections between departments right will influence how staff work through every shift.
Planning also includes the Coordination Hub, which will help manage patient flow and coordinate activity across the hospital.
Staff experience is informing this work through an extensive program of detailed design Project User Group sessions. Clinical and operational expert feedback can lead to room configurations and layouts being adjusted on screen in real time by the design team.
How do you equip an entire hospital?
A hospital room is only ready when everything inside it has been considered.
Furniture, fittings and equipment – from beds and workstations to specialised medical technology – must be selected, positioned and connected to the services around them.
The team works closely with clinicians, designers, contractors and suppliers to determine what is required and how it will fit clinical workflows.
Each decision must balance functionality, technology, cost, space and long-term flexibility.
When the clinical areas are fully fitted out, they will include specialist equipment such as a pharmacy robot and an MRI scanner – bringing years of equipment planning, spatial design and technical coordination to life.
How do you plan the services that keep a hospital running?
Some of the hospital’s most important systems are those patients may never see.
Every day, food, linen, equipment, supplies and waste will travel through the building along carefully considered routes. Experience from existing Gold Coast Health facilities is informing how this movement will be managed at Coomera.
Planning includes the kitchen and food delivery model, along with the movement of essential goods and services throughout the hospital. Critical to this is the availability of vertical transport.
What does it take to plan the wider hospital precinct?
A hospital does not end at its front door.
Planning extends to the roads, car parks and landscaping surrounding the buildings, as well as the way people will arrive at and move through the precinct.
Behind these visible elements is another layer of essential services: electricity, water, plumbing, fire protection and mechanical services that will keep the hospital running.
How do you prepare a hospital to operate?
Opening the doors requires much more than completing the building.
Before services can begin, a detailed program of interconnected activities will align the workforce, equipment, technology and operational processes with the hospital’s models of care.
This planning draws on recent experience from the Robina Hospital expansions, Gold Coast University Hospital, Tugun Satellite Health Centre and H Block at GCUH – applying lessons from each project to the next.
Who are the people behind the build?
Collaborative. Adaptable. Future-focused.
These qualities show up in different ways across the team. Amelia is known for her tenacity and Michelle for her calm approach under pressure.
The team also brings a varied mix of interests and achievements. Michelle is a Netball Australia Advanced Accredited coach, Brad enjoys playing pickleball with his son and Stephanie once held the South Australian long jump record for seven years.
Kathryn plays touch football and has worked on the 2018 Commonwealth Games and preparations for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Different roles, skills and perspectives – all working towards the same goal: creating a hospital where every space, system and service supports great care.
About the new Coomera Hospital
The Coomera Hospital will deliver 600 overnight beds in stages, helping to provide more care closer to home while reducing pressure across the wider Gold Coast Health network.
Planned services include emergency care, intensive care, operating theatres, maternity, paediatrics, mental health, outpatient services and specialist care.
