Sunshine Coast Health Campus becomes regional medical hub

The Sunshine Coast Health Campus at Birtinya has grown into a $2 billion health and knowledge precinct that is the largest concentration of health, medical education, and health services employment in regional Queensland, employing approximately 6,000 people across the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, the University of the Sunshine Coast's health sciences faculties, several private specialist practices, and a growing cluster of health technology and medical device companies that have located at the campus to access its clinical and research partnerships.

Sunshine Coast University Hospital, which opened in 2017 as a 450-bed facility, has grown to 738 beds and continues to expand its clinical scope, with the opening of a Level 1 trauma centre, a regional cancer centre providing full oncology services, and a cardiac catheterisation laboratory representing the most recent service additions. The hospital now functions as a genuine regional tertiary referral centre for the Sunshine Coast, Gympie, and Wide Bay communities, reducing the need for patients to travel to Brisbane for specialist care.

The University of the Sunshine Coast's health campus has grown to accommodate approximately 2,800 health science students across nursing, paramedicine, exercise science, and health sciences programs, with the clinical training relationship with Sunshine Coast University Hospital providing students with access to a high-acuity modern teaching hospital environment. USC's nursing program has received national accreditation recognition for its curriculum quality and clinical placement outcomes.

Health technology companies have established at the campus including several digital health, telehealth, and data analytics businesses whose proximity to the hospital's clinical operations provides them with the partnership and pilot testing opportunities that are critical to the commercial development of health technology products.

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