MEMBER for Mildura Ali Cupper has called for the Andrews Government to fund a feasibility study into a new “world-class” public hospital for north-west Victoria in this month’s State Budget.
Ms Cupper said on Friday the existing 172-bed Mildura Base Public Hospital in Mildura was “not fit-for-purpose” as many staff struggled to maintain best-practice standards.
“We know that patient outcomes are largely determined by the environment (of the facility),” she said.
“One of the problems with the layout of the hospital now is that doctors and nurses’ stations are literally working on top of each other.
“You can see nurses and other people trying to move whiteboards around so that can make a partition to have a discussion with a patient’s family member.
“You’ve got doctors and nurses balancing bits of paper on their knees because they don’t have enough desk space. It’s not an environment that is optimal for best-practice standards.”
Ms Cupper said she had had talks with Health Minister Martin Foley and Treasurer Tim Pallas “on a number of occasions” about the need for a new public hospital in Mildura.
“I’m also in regular contact with the Premier’s office about this. We have to keep pushing to get them to move it further up the priority list,” Ms Cupper said.
“The staff and patients here deserve the best possible health care facility.
“We are Victorians, just as much as people in Melbourne are. We deserve the same standard of health care as anybody in the state.”
Mildura Base Public Hospital chief executive Terry Welch late last year said the city would need a new $500 million health care facility in the next five years to replace an “outdated” service model.
“We’ve outgrown this site and facility,” he told Sunraysia Daily shortly after the hospital returned to public hands on September 15.
“The reality is that we need to think about what the precinct looks like in the next five or 10 years.”
The State Government announced on Friday $759 million would be allocated in the budget for more paramedics, more triage care and support staff for Ambulance Victoria.
It said the investment would also support the opening of new beds in health services across the state.
