$50 million State Government funding boost for Footscray Hospital a welcome fix

A $50 million injection of cash for a new Footscray Hospital is a long-awaited shot in the arm for those in the region.

Community campaigners at the front of the Footscray Hospital last year calling for more funding. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

A $50 million injection of cash for a new Footscray Hospital is a long-awaited shot in the arm for those in the region.

The State Government has announced the funds as part of this year’s state budget which will go towards developing a business case and to start design work, including identifying options for a suitable site and purchase, if required.

It will also be used to support urgent works at the existing facility.

Western Health board chair Bronwyn Pike said the announcement was a milestone for Melbourne’s west.

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She said rebuilding the hospital had long been a top priority for the region.

“Footscray Hospital has been at the heart of our community for 60 years, so we are thrilled that it will soon become the world-class modern facility that our patients deserve,” she said.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the building was showing its age and it needed to upgraded for a modern health system.

“The (Health) Minister made sure that I understood that very clearly and that’s why the Budget provides an initial $50 million to get the planning right,” he said.

The Footscray Hospital was built in the 1950s and has undergone expansion and refurbishment, but no longer meets the needs of the rapidly growing community.

It has some of the oldest inpatient ward accommodation in Victoria and has the only metropolitan emergency department not to have been substantially renovated over the past 20 years.

In April last year, Leader reported that two patient wards had been abandoned and a third was being used for administration.

Pictures of an unused wing of the Footscray hospital, taken in 2015.

The budget allocation is in addition to the $17 million set aside last year to begin the planning process.

Health minister Jill Hennessy said the business case would identify the best way to deliver a new hospital for Footscray, which could entail a rebuild from the ground up on the exiting site or at a new location.

Footscray MP Marsha Thomson welcomed the funding and said the new hospital was particularly important to the local community.

“It’s why I’ve worked so hard to secure this commitment, so we can finally have the new hospital we deserve,” she said.

Greens MP Colleen Hartland, who was part of a Fix Footscray Hospital campaign, said the devil would be in the detail.

“The fact that the government has acknowledged there is a serious problem in Footscray which has to be addressed is fantastic,” she said.

“Footscray Hospital is a pivotal facility for the area … and the staff and patients deserve it.”

Ms Hartland said the existing building was crumbling and a new hospital was decades overdue.