On Wednesday 15 December Mapoon Health Action Team met to discuss the plan moving into 2022. Foremost on the agenda was the progress of the Primary Health Care Centre build in Mapoon with Project Officer, Andrew Sherrington, providing an update on the schedule which has been, and may be further, affected by various factors.
“James Construction QLD have been approved and have commenced building works on the Mapoon PHCC Build site location, and they are endeavouring to have the slab, brick work and roof completed prior to Christmas. This is obviously taking into consideration external factors such as the wet season,” Andrew said.
JCQ have advised that an approximate completion date for the Mapoon PHCC is mid-April however this is also subject to the supply of building materials. Supply chains have been affected recently by both a materials shortage and 2022 may potentially see delivery problems due to the shortage of the diesel additive, Adblue.
Once the build is completed the centre will be handed over to ACYHC for the fitout. This is expected to be complete by late June 2022 (on current timeline) and a proposed Mapoon PHCC Opening has been tentatively set for July/August 2022.
Drafting of a Mapoon PHCC Service Transition document is also underway outlining how ACYHC will go about transitioning services to the new PHCC, as well as community consultation and providing information to the community about the changes.
During the meeting, Dr Al also provided a COVID update, in particular around bringing the organisation into line with government and Queensland Health guidelines. A COVID disaster management plan is now in place with operation guidelines for if and when a community outbreak occurs.
Also on the agenda was the strategy to ensure the HAT’s overall role is representative of their community, which will be achieved by working closely with Amanda.
