Regional hospitals left out of Victorian budget despite cries for help

Hospitals in regional Victoria have been left out of the state budget, despite bed shortages, ambulance struggles and extended wait times.

A new hospital on the NSW Victorian border has been left out of the state budget, despite bed shortages, ambulance struggles and extensive wait times at the existing hospital.

In March, Albury Wodonga Health called two code yellows after experiencing “significant and prolonged” wait times, where some ambulances were unable to respond to calls.

Albury Wodonga Health interim chief executive officer Janet Chapman said on Thursday the Victorian and NSW governments were currently upgrading the emergency department at Albury Base Hospital, but would not comment of the lack of funding for a new hospital.

Ms Chapman said the emergency department capacity would only be lifted from 16 to 42, despite more than 200 patients presenting to the hospital in March.

On Sunday, community lobby group Better Border Health was set to campaign for the Federal, Victorian and NSW government to fund a single site public hospital.

Better Border Health has rallied for a single site pubic hospital for the Albury/Wodonga area.

Spokesperson Di Thomas said local health professionals were delivering care in facilities that did not meet clinical need and were no longer fit for purpose.

Independent MP for Indi Helen Haines also announced on Monday her backing of the decision, amid “ambulances ramping, surgeries being postponed (and) long waiting times”.

Ms Haines said she was a long time advocate for funding towards a new hospital and wanted the major parties to contribute $300 million as part of their “fair share” of the total project estimated to cost $1 billion.

“I’ve met with the Prime Minister, Treasurer and Health Minister on many occasions to get them to work with the state governments to stump up the funds needed to make a new hospital on the border a reality,” Ms Haines said.

“The stress and trauma experienced by people in our community who must travel for their own medical care, or support their family members from a distance, adds to the difficulty of dealing with medical issues.

“A world-class facility on the border will take away that stress if people can get the care they need close to home.”

Health Minister Martin Foley visited the Mildura Base Public Hospital on Friday, after the government left out funding for a new hospital in Mildura in the state budget.

The Victorian budget has failed to support a Mildura hospital, despite promises otherwise.

Health Minister Martin Foley declared in March a $2.1 million investment in the 2021-22 budget for a hospital master plan, but Mildura was not promised a new hospital in this year’s state budget.

“The failure of Daniel Andrews and Martin Foley to commit funding to build the new Mildura Base Public Hospital is inexcusable,” Opposition member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell said.

Mildura Base Public Hospital chief executive Terry Welch said he “never had an expectation” the hospital would receive funding in the state budget.

“Our focus has been to work with the department’s building authority who are leading the masterplan,” Mr Welch said.

“We are extremely grateful for the support of this department under the direction of the secretary Professor Euan Wallace.

“We thank Minister Foley for visiting us last week and providing an update on where the masterplan is at and confirming he would be back once he received the final copy of the report to share its contents with us.”

Mr Welch said the masterplan was in its first stage and a detailed plan could only be released once it was completed, but there was a strong desire from the community to see a “state of the art health service” built in Mildura.

Despite the snub, Mildura Independent MP Ali Cupper is not giving up hope funding for a new Mildura hospital could come as an election promise from Labor.

“Don’t write it off, all is not lost,” she said.

“The masterplan hasn’t even been completed yet so there is still time, don’t worry and the main game for me is to get an election commitment out of Labor.”