Government slams suggestion Garran Surge Centre was ever designed to be emergency ward

The ACT health minister has labelled claims the Garran Surge Centre was never fit for purpose “absolutely ridiculous” because it was never meant to be an emergency ward for COVID-19 patients.

Rachel Stephen-Smith’s argument comes in the wake of documents released under a freedom of information request which showed an October 2021 review found there were issues with fire safety, the appropriate distancing of beds and ventilation and that, in some cases, it didn’t meet national health standards.

The Garran Surge Centre was announced in April 2020 as a temporary emergency COVID-19 department, but only if it was needed.

The $14 million ‘insurance policy’ (originally costed at $23 million) ended up being used as a testing clinic, vaccination hub and walk-in clinic.

The October 2021 report recommended Canberra Health Services (CHS) spend $60,000 to $75,000 on improvements, including upgrading the exhaust and air filtration, to ensure the centre could be a viable COVID ward, but the money was never spent.

Shadow Health Minister Leanne Castley said in early 2020 the government was “doing the best they could in an emergency situation” based on information at the time.

But this review raised questions about what the real story around the centre’s use actually was, and whether the public had been kept in the dark.

“The Surge Centre was supposed to handle patients overnight to keep them out of the emergency departments, and now they’re telling us it wasn’t built for that – so what was it for and why are they changing their mind?” Ms Castley said.

She said the community had the right to know why this information was never made public.

“I think we definitely need to look into the fact that there was a report that said there were issues that needed to be addressed that [weren’t],” Ms Castley said.

“We trusted that there was this centre for Canberrans to go to when there was a surge in COVID … it is completely unacceptable this government has been so non-transparent during a public health emergency.

“What was going on with the Surge Centre back then?”

Ms Stephen-Smith fired back, arguing it was “never intended” for the Garran Surge Centre to be used as a ward or intensive care unit.

She said this purpose was an option when the $75,000 upgrades were suggested, but it was decided they weren’t needed at the time.

“To suggest that something was wrong because the design wasn’t appropriate for a ward or intensive care unit is absolutely ridiculous,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.

“It was only ever intended, in its initial construction, to be a supplement for the emergency department, and it was built at a time – in April 2020 – when the understanding of COVID was that it was primarily spread through droplet transmission.

“To then go back in some kind of revisionist way and say, ‘well, when it was built in 37 days in April 2020, we should have taken notice of some standards that were subsequently implemented somewhere else down the line when we knew COVID was airborne’ is absolutely ridiculous.”

Ms Stephen-Smith said she wasn’t aware of the review, and that it was CHS that decided not to pursue making the centre a ward – a decision she was “quite comfortable” with.

“What this whole process demonstrates is that every step of the way, Canberra Health Services was undertaking due diligence to ensure that they were using that facility appropriately. They understood what needed to be done should they make a recommendation to use that facility differently,” she said.

“It was built to supplement our emergency department capability – not to be a ward, not to be an intensive care unit.”

When pushed that the name ‘Garran Surge Centre’ implied to the general public that it was built to be used as an extra emergency department, Ms Stephen-Smith argued the name was chosen “very, very early on”.

“It was named at a particular period and it served different purposes over time,” she said.

“[There were times when I suggested to CHS] this was the original intention of the surge centre, would it be helpful to set it up in some way that could help to take pressure off the emergency departments … as a specific COVID-19 emergency department?” Ms Stephen-Smith said.

“At that time, [it was concluded] in fact, our two emergency departments could cope, and trying to spread those resources over three emergency departments was actually not going to be the most helpful response.”

She insisted it had been a safe place to work, which was continually assessed and monitored, plus extra protective measures were added, such as PPE, masks and physical distancing.

“If we had been intending to use it as an emergency department, if we had needed that capacity and thought it was an appropriate thing to do, of course, further work would have been done,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.

The hospital’s chief operating officer Cathie O’Neill had previously said in July 2022, that the centre didn’t have the right facilities to act as an emergency ward.

The centre is now being dismantled.