New lift for hospital

The West Gippsland Hospital is set to get a new lift with a $345,000 state government grant.

Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing last week announced the hospital was one of 10 hospitals to receive funding from the $25 million Engineering Infrastructure Replacement Program

The funding will be used to replace the public lift in the hospital.

West Gippsland Healthcare Group chief executive officer Dan Weeks said the $345,000 grant would replace the public lift that had been unreliable.

He said a new lift would provide a better service to community members and a bigger capacity for when it needs to be used for patient transfers around the hospital.

Mr Weeks said the hospital also had a service lift but upgrading the public lift was a priority.

Ms Shing said these funding programs helped hospitals keep pace with new developments in state-of-the-art medical equipment, while also improving efficiency and reliability by installing new models of hospital infrastructure.

“We are making sure patients in West Gippsland can get the high quality care they need and deserve, sooner and closer to home.

“By upgrading equipment and infrastructure, we’re giving our hard working doctors and nurses at Warragul Hospital the support the need to do what they do best – which is keeping us healthy and saving lives.

“We’re putting patients first, ensuring they can access safe and reliable health facilities and very best care, now and into the future,” she said.