The hospital, operated by Ramsay Health, hopes to build a 10-storey health facility to the north of the existing site. If approved, it would have an 114 additional inpatient beds, three more day surgery theatres, 10 new consulting suites and another 120 car parking spaces.

The project has been given a Capital Investment Value of about $80 million.

A spokesperson for Lake Macquarie Private Hospital said they had undertaken a "considered master planning process" in the past two years to address the current and future health care needs of the Hunter community. Construction would occur in phases. But the first stages of the masterplan were now underway.

"Our aim is to expand Lake Macquarie Private Hospital to provide a comprehensive multidisciplinary offering that adds significant capacity and value to the region's health services," she said. "These building works include creating additional operating theatres, recovery beds, car parking, private rooms, day of surgery area and central sterile supply department. We are proposing to expand further, subject to approvals, to include additional car parking, emergency department bays, extra private patient rooms, day oncology chairs, operating theatres including a hybrid theatre and cardiac catheterisation lab, consulting suites for medical specialists and a medical imaging unit."

It comes as the Cornerstone Group announced it was seeking approval for the development of a $30 million "state-of-the-art" health building in Gosford.

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