WA election 2025: Cook promises beds at Albany Health Campus to double with construction of $60m modular ward

The number of inpatient beds at the Great Southern’s largest hospital will almost double if Labor is re-elected, with the Premier on Thursday promising a new $60 million modular ward. Roger Cook has committed to delivering an extra 30 beds and 60 staff to Albany Health Campus, labelling it the “biggest bed-boost in the hospital’s history”. The election commitment would add to the hospital’s current 130-bed total, providing 20 medical inpatient beds, 16 mental health inpatient beds, and beds in the emergency department and the short-stay and intensive care and high dependency units. Modular wards serve as a way to quickly increase hospital capacity without requiring complete renovation of the facility, and have been implemented in the Bunbury, Bentley and Rockingham hospitals. The ward, which would be positioned near the existing buildings, would include a mix of single and twin bedrooms, a patient lounge, staff offices, and reception facilities. It will require staffing by 60 additional doctors, nurses and allied health specialists. Mr Cook said the promise aimed to “significantly improve” capacity across the hospital. “In addition to the $60m investment towards the 30-bed modular ward, under a government I lead we will also be bolstering staffing at Albany Health Campus,” he said. “Our health staff do remarkable work in our hospitals and community, and I thank them for their service to Albany and the region.” The former health minister acknowledged the advocacy efforts of Albany MLA Rebecca Stephens for “continuing to champion” improvements to the hospital’s infrastructure. Ms Stephens expressed hope the expansion would help the hospital serve the community “well into the future”. The AHC opened in the 1950s and has undergone a $170m reconstruction — the biggest country health project in WA history — that was completed in 2013. A $320m business case to expand the hospital further over a six-year time frame was put forward in 2021. A 2022 inquiry report conducted by the WA Country Health Service into the hospital said it had an “inability to meet the patient care demand” of the Great Southern community. Mr Cook assured the business case was still being considered in September last year when he acknowledged the hospital was “under the pump”. At a community forum on February 11, Albany Liberal candidate and employee of the hospital Tom Brough said he would support an inquiry into the hospital’s ability to serve its catchment area, confirming staff did their best but did not have the infrastructure to comfortably support patients. A 100-bay carpark to service the hospital — a Labor election promise from 2021 — is expected to be built in the coming months.