The controversial new Tweed Valley Hospital opened to patients at 8am this morning.
Approximately 150 patients will be transferred from Tweed Hospital across to Tweed Valley Hospital. The move is being coordinated by NSW Health, NSW Ambulance, NSW Police and Transport for NSW.
‘The Tweed Hospital is now closed, and the transfer of patients to the new facility is now in progress,’ said a spokesperson for Northern NSW Local Health District.
Emergency at new TVH site
Anyone requiring emergency medical care should present to Tweed Valley Hospital at 771 Cudgen Road, Cudgen. The Tweed Hospital at Powell Street, Tweed Heads, is no longer accepting new patients.
‘The Tweed Valley Hospital Emergency Department, which opened at 8am this morning, has already treated more than 30 patients,’ said a spokesperson for the TVH updated at 1.30pm today.
‘91 patients have now been transferred from The Tweed Hospital to Tweed Valley Hospital, as part of the move to the new hospital facility today. All patients have now been safely transferred from Medical 1, Coronary Care, Intensive Care, Special Care Nursery, Women’s Care and the Mental Health inpatient ward.
‘We are tracking ahead of schedule, with all patients to be transferred to the new facility today. The transfer of our patients to the new hospital is a significant task, and we are thankful for the inter-agency coordination and support from our key partners NSW Ambulance, NSW Police and Transport for NSW.
‘The operating theatres at Tweed Valley Hospital are open, and the first procedures are already underway.
Renal patients are also already receiving vital treatment at Tweed Valley Hospital. Inpatient services will continue to be provided for all current inpatients at The Tweed Hospital, until the last patient has been transferred.’
Local opposition
For many years various projects had been proposed on the Cudgen plateau’s protected State Significant Farmland (SSF) and the community had valiantly fought back against them highlighting the importance of valuable farmland for future generations.
A surprise change of the plan to develop the Tweed Hospital site, that closes today, to instead developing a new hospital, now known as Tweed Valley Hospital (TVH), on SSF led to significant community division as the National Liberal coalition pushed through the development at this site.
As many community members stated throughout the campaign they did not object to the new hospital development, they objected to it being built on valuable farmland that had already been given special protection by the state in recognition of it’s current and future value.
‘Iron clad’ commitments
As a result the National Liberal coalition gave an ‘iron clad’ commitment that no further development would take place on the SSF. In November 2023 Labor gave a joint statement from local Tweed Labor councillor Reece Byrnes, along with then Shadow Minister for the North Coast Walt Secord, and Justine Elliot, Federal Member for Richmond saying, ‘Labor has always been committed to protecting the Cudgen farmland from development and that hasn’t changed. While we do not know the full details of this $250 million [cudgen Connection] project and it may have some merits, it should not be built on state significant farmland.’
However, Labor has declined to confirm this commitment to no further development on SSF since they were elected.
Developer Alan Larkin bought the site adjacent to the TVH site just days before it was announced that the site would be re-zoned for the new TVH to be built there and has since pushed for a re-zoning of that land as the Cudgen Connection development.
The application for gateway determination to look at changing the zoning from SSF so that the Cudgen Connection site could be developed went before the Tweed Shire Council (TSC) on May 2, 2024 and was rejected six to one by councillors. The staff report had recommended approval of the gateway determination.
‘We are so grateful to the six councillors who voted to refuse this application,’ Peter Newton, President of KRPA told The Echo following the meeting.
The NSW government (in particular, Health Infrastructure) have indicated several times that the combined available land on the Tweed Valley Hospital site and Kingscliff TAFE site is all that is required for the full development of a health/education precinct and have included most of what is listed in the Cudgen Connection proposal in future stages of the TVH masterplan. This is further endorsed in the Kingscliff Locality Plan,’ explained Mr Newton.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
