Old Maitland Hospital future back in community hands as state opens consultation

newy.com.au – Maitland residents are being asked what should happen to the former Maitland Hospital site on High Street. The NSW Government is running a three‑month community consultation on its future.

The High Street campus closed in January 2022 and most services shifted to the new Maitland Hospital at Metford. Since then the largely idle precinct has since become a flashpoint in debates over health services, heritage and housing in a rapidly growing city.

Property and Development NSW (PDNSW), engaged by NSW Health is running an online survey from 1 December 2025 to 1 March 2026 to determine the site’s “most appropriate future use”, through the state’s Have Your Say portal, with community ideas to shape recommendations back to government.

The former hospital complex at 550‑560 High Street is zoned SP2, Infrastructure: Health Services Facility, meaning only health‑related uses are currently allowed without a rezoning. NSW Government information states likely re‑use options include private healthcare, aged care or education facilities, and describes Block J, the former Female Public Ward as having “exceptional heritage significance”, requiring it to be preserved and kept in public use as part of any future plan.

In November, a motion in the NSW Legislative Council noted the High Street campus has been largely unused for more than three years apart from limited community and mental health functions, and urged the government to get on with consultation and planning for redevelopment while protecting the historic precinct, which has served the Maitland region since the 1840s.

Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison said the consultation would run for three months to give residents ample time to lodge submissions. “Consultation is open for the next three months,” she said, urging locals to use the Have Your Say portal because the precinct is “a very large and diverse site” encompassing heritage wards, more modern buildings, car parks, paddocks and the former emergency department.

Aitchison said some services, including palliative care, mental health and sexual assault support are still operating from parts of the campus, and planners were trying to minimise disruption for those staff as future options are worked through.

Much of the grassroots debate, including hundreds of comments on a Facebook post by Maitland councillor Warrick Penfold, focuses on whether the campus should return to health use. Many residents argue the region’s western growth areas and nearby towns need closer emergency or urgent care than the Metford facility provides, especially when floods or traffic make cross‑city trips difficult. One commenter said the “old hospital needs a functioning ER end of story”, while another argued “there is more than enough need to have both the new and old hospital open”.

Others in the discussion warn that staffing is already stretched, pointing to long waits at the new Maitland Hospital and saying there are not enough nurses to reopen a full second hospital. Suggested compromises include a lower‑acuity emergency department, a Medicare urgent care or after‑hours clinic, day surgery, or a specialist hub for services such as maternity, oncology, dialysis or rehabilitation, potentially linked to training programs for doctors, nurses and other health workers.

A significant stream of feedback calls for the precinct to support housing and social services instead. Residents have proposed using parts of the site as a nursing home, hospice or transitional aged‑care facility, as well as emergency or longer‑term accommodation for people experiencing homelessness or escaping domestic violence. Several commenters argued for family‑friendly crisis housing on the campus, with one writing that “no one should have to sleep on the streets especially children”.

Some contributors question whether the ageing buildings are viable to refurbish, citing concerns about asbestos, structural deterioration and vermin, and suggesting demolition to make way for new apartments or other development. Others strongly oppose large‑scale housing on the site, saying it would damage the area’s heritage character and traffic conditions, and want original buildings retained either within an expanded health precinct or repurposed as a museum, arts venue or broader community hub.

Adding to the conversation, some residents have floated ideas ranging from a medical or nursing school with student accommodation, to mental health and drug rehabilitation services, veterans’ support, mother‑and‑baby units, specialist women’s health clinics and expanded outpatient facilities to ease pressure on the Metford emergency department.

Separately, NSW Health is progressing a new mental health rehabilitation facility on the Metford hospital campus, designed to relocate services from ageing buildings at Morisset Hospital into a purpose‑built, two‑storey unit integrated with the new Maitland Hospital.

Submissions on the former Maitland Hospital site close at 11.59pm (AEDT) on Sunday 1 March 2026. PDNSW says it will publish a summary of community feedback after the consultation, and that the results will guide future decisions about the High Street campus. Residents can make a submission through the NSW Government’s Have Your Say website or by emailing the project team.