No intention to build new hospital

The absence for the fifth time of any commitment in the state government budget to build a new West Gippsland Hospital has been described by West Gippsland Healthcare Group chair Christine Holland as “gut wrenching”.

Ms Holland said the present hospital built in 1939 cannot meet demand.

She said the WGH last year, at the request of the Department of Health, “completed an updated business case for budget consideration and was hopeful this would be the year the Andrews’ government, committed to fund the build”.

“For 16 years we’ve owned land to build a new hospital (at Drouin East), we’ve completed business cases, service plans and masterplans at the government’s request”.

“They all say the same thing, we need a hospital now”.

Ms Holland highlighted the problems currently being experienced by the hospital, staff and patients.

“We can’t meet current demand”.

“We no longer have a high dependency unit”.

“We had to cap births almost 10 years ago”.

“Overnight bed shortages are a major problem”.

“The hospital fails to meet modern standards and is equipped to service a population half the size of the Baw Baw catchment area”.

“In an emergency staff have to commandeer the public lift, stack equipment on the patient trolley and run up to stairs to meet the lift because they cannot fit in the elevator with the patient and trolley”.

Ms Holland called on the state Health Minister Martin Foley to visit and witness firsthand the sub-standard conditions and said she would continue to seek an opportunity to meet with him.

Member for Narracan Gary Blackwood said the lack again of budget funding showed the state Labor government clearly has no intention of building a new West Gippsland Hospital.

It proved the project did not rank on the government’s agenda, even in the longer term, he said.

In addition to submissions by Mr Blackwood over a number of years, other organisations including Committee for Gippsland, Baw Baw Shire council and the West Gippsland Healthcare Group board of management have repeatedly advocated for a new West Gippsland Hospital, rating it a high priority for the region.

Government Upper House member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing rejected the suggestion a new hospital for the West Gippsland region was not proposed saying that a business case prepared six years ago was currently being updated.

She said she had continued to advocate strongly for the new hospital and spoke with West Gippsland Healthcare Group chief executive officer Dan Weeks after the budget was tabled in parliament last week to assure him of her continued support.

It will be a very complex project to plan and build and would involve hundreds of millions of dollars, Ms Shing stated, adding that she was “absolutely determined” to see it happen in the future.

Mr Blackwood said Premier Daniel Andrews, who has been Premier or Minister for Health for 11 of the past 15 years, has shown no interest in delivering a new hospital.

Without a new hospital the Baw Baw and West Gippsland areas’ urgently needed healthcare service would continue to be rapidly outpaced by population growth, Mr Blackwood stated, describing as a disgrace a government post-budget media release headed “Putting Patients First” and attributed to Mr Andrews and Health Minister Martin Foley.

The government’s release highlighted the next year’s budget allocated $2.3 billion to upgrade and build new hospitals in the state.

Mr Blackwood said the local health service was already struggling with demand for patient services, emergency services, day surgery and maternal services and the government should be ashamed of the record of failure it has delivered.