As the community is aware, the Queensland Hoop Pine at Manning Hospital needs to be removed to make way for the construction of the new Emergency Department. The removal process will begin on Thursday 2 August and will take a few days to complete.

General manager of Manning Hospital Tim Mooney, said the site chosen for the new Emergency Department was the best available as it was close to the X-Ray and Pathology Departments, the Intensive Care Unit and General Wards.

"This helps in providing timely and safe care for our patients," Mr Mooney said.

He said the planning committee had hoped to be able to work around the tree which was planted in the 1920s, but this wasn’t possible. To accommodate the tree, the new Emergency Department would have to be significantly reduced in size and therefore less functional, and building works may disturb the roots so significantly that the tree may die as a result.

"The new $15 million Emergency Department will provide high level emergency care to the Taree and Lower Mid North Coast communities and will be more than twice the size of the current facility," Mr Mooney said

"There will be 22 treatment areas instead of the current nine. This includes 16 examination cubicles, two resuscitation areas, two counselling rooms, a secure treatment area for disturbed patients and one for contagious or infectious patients.

"It will also include separate treatment areas for children, a more spacious waiting area and an enlarged Ambulance set-down area.

"The new ED will be a vast improvement and when full activity is reached, will employ a further 18 staff," Mr Mooney said.

Mr Mooney said many local people have fond memories of the tree as a child, many playing under its branches, or listening to the Salvation Army band who played there regularly, while others remember it as the town’s de-facto Christmas tree.

"However, we have to put this in context. The Manning Hospital has doubled in size in the past 50 years, and now we have to say good bye to the tree to make way for further development of our health service.

"We’ll try to preserve the memory of the tree by making its timber available to local wood turners. The project manager will be taking it to a local timber yard from where it will be distributed to be made into furniture and art," he said.

Mr Mooney said the next stage of the Emergency Department development is to undertake preliminary plumbing work and clearing of the block.

"The tender process is still being finalised and we expect an announcement shortly regarding when the successful construction company will be able to start," Mr Mooney said.