Projects
Social and economic impact assessment: proposed hospital relocation and expansion

Social and economic impact assessment informs proposed hospital relocation and expansion in NSW.

To relocate and expand a hospital in NSW, our client needed to submit a planning application that included a Social and Environment Impact Assessment. We prepared this assessment which identified and evaluated the extent of economic and social impacts that will result from the hospital’s relocation and expansion. Our approach included:

• Reviewing background materials to define the key issues
• Profiling the hospital’s catchment to understand the socio-economic context
• Understanding and linking the above points to the core purpose of the hospital’s redevelopment and relocation (as articulated in the evolving business case)
• A Social Impact Assessment which assessed the extent to which the proposed expansion and relocation addresses a range of issues in the community including health, amenity and access to services
• An Economic Impact Assessment which presented direct employment and economic impacts, as well as calculating the wider economic effects on output, value added and employment using econometric modelling, and
• Identifying and assessing positive and negative externalities which are likely to result from the relocation and expansion of the hospital.

Our work combined a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to consider the positive and negative impacts of the proposed hospital redevelopment. This allowed our client to confidently argue that the proposed hospital redevelopment would create an overall positive social and economic impact for the community.