Gary's Speeches

West Gippsland Hospital - Redevelopment

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I wish to raise a matter for the Minister for Health, and the action that I seek is for him to provide funding for a feasibility study into the options for the future redevelopment of the West Gippsland Hospital.

The West Gippsland Healthcare Group board of management has purchased a greenfield site to the west of Warragul as an option for the future upgrade and expansion of the health service. This opportunity was made possible by a generous bequest from a local family. This type of generosity and support for the hospital has become a very common feature of our community. For the health-care group to plan for the future a feasibility study needs to be undertaken that will review the options of redeveloping on the current site or alternatively relocating to the new greenfield site.

It is critically important that the confidence of the community in the long-term future of the hospital is reinforced by the Brumby government. This must happen so that the ongoing generosity of the community is encouraged and it continues to provide donations and bequests such as those that have played such a significant role in the funding of major upgrades at the hospital since the late 1990s.

The board of management submitted an application for funding in December last year to the Department of Health. This application was accompanied by preliminary plans and costings to extend the current emergency department. I received a letter from the CEO of the hospital, also in December 2009, requesting my support for its funding application to the Department of Health. There were two parts to its request.


The West Gippsland Healthcare Group had written to the Department of Health requesting, firstly, that approval be given to proceed to a feasibility study to determine the best option for the redevelopment of West Gippsland Hospital, and secondly, that funding be made available for interim works to extend the existing emergency department.

I wrote to the Minister for Health in January this year asking him to give the West Gippsland Hospital emergency department and the feasibility study his urgent attention.
I received a very unsatisfactory and disappointing response from the minister in March. In response to my request for the minister to meet with representatives of the West Gippsland Healthcare Group board of management the minister just fobbed us all off by referring them to Department of Health officers.

The future of the West Gippsland Hospital must be locked in by the Brumby government. The future can be secured by a clear and concise direction being mapped out through a feasibility study that will reveal the most appropriate option for future growth.

I call on the Minister for Health to immediately approve and fund the feasibility study as a sign of the Brumby government's commitment to the long-term future of the West Gippsland Hospital.