Presented by Robert Clark MP		www.robertclark.net

Wonthaggi Hospital redevelopment

The Victorian Government will spend $4.5 million on a major redevelopment project at the Wonthaggi Hospital.

The redevelopment will be to improve efficiency and comfort at the 68-bed hospital.

The project will provide a new operating theatre block to replace the two theatres built in 1928, and a new accident and emergency department.

The funding will also provide radiology, improved facilities for community-based services and dental services, and an upgrade of hospital services such as the switchboard and boiler house.

Tenders are expected to be called in the next five or six months, and the project should be completed 12 to 18 months after that.

Mr Knowles said all of Victoria’s public hospitals are to share in an extra $83 million through the Budget to meet increased demand due to population growth and ageing. This is on top of last year’s boost to hospital spending through the 1998 State Budget and the Australian Health Care Agreement.

All hospitals will also share in a $20 million Budget allocation to fund new equipment, to keep hospitals in stride with the technological demands of the new millennium.

(News Release, Office of the Minister for Health and Aged Care, May 6, 1999)