Footscray Hospital receives $17 million pledge but wards ‘beyond renovation’

A MAJOR Melbourne hospital has shut down one in every six beds, with long-term neglect leading to the closure of several wards.

Footscray Hospital crisis a sick joke

A MAJOR Melbourne hospital has shut down one in every six beds, with long-term neglect leading to the closure of several wards.

Footscray Hospital, which services one of Victoria’s fastest-growing populations, now has entire wings that are unfit for patients.

Two years after Western Health warned the Government the hospital was “beyond re-use or renovation” and would “need to be demolished”, two patient wards have been abandoned. A third is being used for administration.

The Andrews Government will today announce $17 million will be allocated to Footscray Hospital in this month’s State Budget. It is estimated that $15 million will be for “urgent works”, with $2 million set aside for “planning”.

However this will only be enough to update the remaining three functioning wards in the six-ward South Block.

Footscray Hospital of an unused empty hospital.

New photos show one of the deserted wards - 1 East - in a state of disrepair, with patient rooms being used as storage for chairs, dumped hospital equipment and bulging cardboard boxes.

The hospital’s official capacity dropped from 360 to 300 beds last year, as part of a planned transfer of some services to the redeveloped Sunshine Hospital.

But locals fear the Footscray Hospital has been dumped by successive governments, with no money pledged for its upgrade.

A $300 million partial rebuild of Footscray Hospital was identified as critical in catering for the west’s booming population in 2014.

This included demolishing the “too old and dilapidated” 150-bed South Block, and doubling the size of the emergency department.

Western Metropolitan Greens MP Colleen Hartland said it was “appalling” that the hospital had been allowed to deteriorate, but praised its “fantastic” staff.

“It’s shocking to walk the halls and see doors to wards locked and the lights down,” she said.

Ms Hartland said $17 million was a “band-measure to keep remaining wards open”.

“What is also needed this budget is $30 million for the detailed design and planning, and a firm commitment from the Andrews Government to the full redevelopment over coming years.”

Several hospital staff had earlier spoken to the Sunday Herald Sun on the condition of anonymity.

Unused Footscray hospital.

One long-serving nurse described the South Block as “pretty woeful...it’s not really fit for patients anymore”.

He said rooms were so cold and draughty in winter that staff “give out blankets to patients to put over their shoulders”.

Others were concerned about infection risks, with as many as 30 patients sharing two bathrooms.

A Western Health spokeswoman said the building was “not sustainable in its current form”, but stressed that the hospital still delivered quality patient care. She said the number of Western Health beds overall had increased.

In 2014, Western Health warned two projects were crucial if the public health system was to cope with a projected 60 per cent increase in patients in just 10 years.

The first was fixing Footscray Hospital.

The second — a $200 million Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Sunshine — was funded in the Labor Government’s first budget last year.

Werribee Mercy Hospital was given another $85 million for upgrades.

Health Minister Jill Hennessey said the funding would pay for upgrades to three wards, including 77 beds, an inpatient dialysis imaging unit and administration and kitchen facilities for staff.

“These urgent works will make sure our hardworking doctors and nurses at Footscray will be able to provide the safe and high quality care patients in the west need and deserve,” she said.

“Under the Andrews Labor Government, the people of Melbourne’s West are no longer a forgotten community”.

Shadow Health Minister Mary Wooldridge said: “Melbourne is growing at around 100,000 people every year and it beggars belief that Daniel Andrews is allowing wards at Footscray Hospital to close when there is such huge demand.”

Fed-up locals say Footscray Hospital is like many public services in Melbourne’s west — neglected.

Concerned residents are trying to save Footscray Hospital. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

They have spent years making fruitless calls for funding, while their 60-year-old hospital has slipped further behind.

And they have watched on as “embarrassed” hospital staff work hard to compensate for the inadequate facilities.

Patrick Walsh has been dismayed by the experiences of his mother, a long-term patient.

Needing two hip replacements, gall bladder surgery and a thyroid operation, the 70-year-old has had a string of appointments over the past few years.

A lack of toilets and parking for disabled patients, long waiting times, services spread across the hospital — and shabby facilities overall — make most visits difficult.

“You have to pull favours just to get what you think would be normal, like a wheelchair,” Mr Walsh said.

“The staff are faultless, they are fantastic. Everyone there is working with what they have got, but it’s like they are working on the set of MASH.”

Former patient and Footscray resident Sarah Wigg, 38, said the small emergency department cubicles with little privacy was one of the biggest problems.

“I really think the (facilities) are a joke, given the number of people that live in the area,” she said.

“Like a lot of the infrastructure in the west, this is something that should have been dealt with 20 years ago.”

Nursing student Clare Mitchell, 28, from Braybrook, said she was shocked at the facilities when her partner was recently admitted to Footscray Hospital.

“A window was broken and it was sealed up with dressing tape,” she said.

Ms Mitchell, who regularly attends St Vincent’s Hospital for treatment for several medical conditions, said the hospitals’ facilities were incomparable.

“It was just a real shock to spend time at Footscray,” she said.

Sylvie Leber, 65, from Footscray, said: “It’s very sad to see that this building is so derelict.”

“My feeling is that the western suburbs are way more neglected than other parts of Melbourne.”

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