Community campaign to ‘save’ Rosebud Hospital, thousands sign petition, rally planned
Mornington Peninsula residents are gearing up to “save” their hospital, which they say is in urgent need of an upgrade.
South East
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The only public hospital serving a major holiday hot spot is “not fit for purpose” and needs an urgent upgrade.
Locals say Rosebud Hospital, which services people from Portsea to Dromana as well as millions of summer tourists every year, is “outdated” and not “fit for purpose”.
Long time hospital advocate Sue Gilbert said a promised upgrade of the hospital was long overdue and staff were facing increasingly difficult working conditions.
“The future of the hospital is dire if it’s allowed to continue to deteriorate,” Ms Gilbert said.
“There are only so many Band-Aid repairs that the old building can have.
“Plans were drawn up five years ago for a modern hospital to be built on the site, yet no funding has been offered.”
She said the next major public hospital was Frankston — a minimum 45 minutes drive for those living at the southern end of the Mornington Peninsula.
“That drive becomes even longer when stuck in the traffic jams we see every summer,” she said.
Ms Gilbert has organised a rally at the Point Nepean Road hospital on Wednesday in a bid to secure world class health care close to home for locals.
“I’ve had an amazing response and I’m hoping that is reflected in the numbers we get to the rally,” she said.
Locals backing the campaign said the hospital’s emergency department was inadequate for the number of people it served.
“Eight cubicles, nine short stays and seven fast track beds at Rosebud emergency. That makes 24 beds in total, for an emergency department that services Portsea to at least Dromana … 24 beds for all the permanent residents … 24 beds for the extra influx of people during the peak season,” one woman posted online.
“Something needs to be done. What a bloody joke.”
Redeveloping the hospital was a key election promise for Nepean state Liberal MP Sam Groth who pledged that if the coalition won power in 2023 it would pump $340m into the ageing buildings.
Despite his party’s loss he has continued to fight for the upgrade, raising the issue eight times in parliament.
In February 2023 he detailed “holes cut in doorways to fit hospital beds, no lifting tracks to ensure safe patient movement” and “the morgue being located next to the kitchen”.
Operating theatres were closed and there was a lack of maternity services, Mr Groth said.
“So dire is the funding support for Rosebud Hospital that the emergency department has now for seven years been forced to run a fundraising drive hoping to raise $117,700 to fund its own new fleet of emergency department trolleys,” he said.
More recently, Mr Groth helped collect more than 3000 signatures for a petition calling on the state government to fund the much needed redevelopment of the hospital.
The petition will be tabled when parliament returns.
He is also supporting the community rally which will be held on Wednesday from 10am-2pm on the eastern side of the hospital at the driveway for 1496 Point Nepean Road, Rosebud.
The state government’s focus has been on the ongoing $1.1bn redevelopment of Frankston Hospital
However, a state government spokesperson said it worked with all hospitals, including Rosebud, to ensure they had the facilities needed to continue to provide lifesaving care.
“This includes providing Peninsula Health with more than $4 million in funding since 2015 to undertake a range of refurbishment works and upgrades,” they said.
“Importantly, our significant $1.1bn Frankston Hospital redevelopment will ensure locals right across Melbourne’s south east suburbs and the Mornington Peninsula can access world class healthcare closer to home – adding capacity for an additional 35,000 patients each year.”
