A major public hospital in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs will get a $400 million upgrade if Matthew Guy is elected in November.
Maroondah Hospital at Ringwood East would be upgraded to help deal with the growing population in the area and improve training at the facility.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has pledged to upgrade a hospital in Victoria’s east a day after promising to improve the emergency call service.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui
“For too long communities across Melbourne’s growing east have struggled to access quality and timely healthcare – my plan will change that,” Guy said on Saturday.
The project would be in consultation with Eastern Health and could include a new emergency department, new ICU and critical care unit, adding 100 new beds and refurbishing operating theatres.
The key feature of the upgrade would be to improve and expand training facilities to increase capacity for additional trainee nurses and doctors, according to the Liberal and National plan.
The opposition’s health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the hospital had “fallen behind” and a bigger and better hospital was part of the plan to fix the state’s health crisis.
“After years of neglect and underinvestment, Maroondah Hospital has fallen behind, meaning communities across Melbourne’s east are struggling to access the healthcare they deserve,” she said.
It’s the latest announcement from the opposition promising to improve the state’s health system.
On Friday the opposition leader also announced a plan to invest $125 million to upgrade the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority’s IT systems, provide ongoing funding and require half the staff to be trained to answer calls for ambulance, fire and police.
That figure would be on top of the $333 million put aside in this year’s state budget.
If elected, a Liberal-National government planned to shelve the first section of the Suburban Rail Loop and instead use the money from that project to fund hospital and health projects.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the hospital had been neglected. Credit:Penny Stephens
The state government has committed $11 billion to the rail project, and expects the remaining two-thirds to come from the federal government and value-capture.
Guy previously said his announcements so far totalled about $6 billion, and he would not be borrowing any money to fund the health commitments.
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