On site: Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas outside Goulburn Valley Health's new Emergency Department on Thursday.
The Victorian Government has no further plans to fund stage two of the Goulburn Valley Health redevelopment after Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas came to Shepparton to tour the “final stage” of the redevelopment.
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The new Emergency Department began operating in October 2022, but was officially unveiled by the minister on Thursday, March 16.
She also received a tour of the new facilities in the Emergency Department, and met with staff at GV Health.
The $230 million redevelopment was slated as stage one of the hospital’s refit, but the opening line of Ms Thomas’s media release put to bed any hopes of a stage two announcement coming in the foreseeable future.
“Families across the Goulburn Valley now have better access to world-class emergency care and facilities, with the final stage of the Andrews Labor Government’s redevelopment almost complete,” it said.
Stage two would upgrade the Oncology Ward and parts of the hospital not updated for four decades.
When asked if the government would fund the next stage of GV Health’s redevelopment, Ms Thomas dodged the question three times.
Seeing the sights: Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas and GV Health chief executive Matt Sharp touring the new Emergency Department on Thursday. Photo: Lauren Formica
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Lauren Formica
“Our government is proud to be undertaking the largest ever investment in health infrastructure that our state has ever seen,” Ms Thomas said.
“The government has made a significant investment in Goulburn Valley Health, but there is always more to do, and as I travel around the state I’m very happy to meet with boards and CEOs to talk about their future needs and to take all of those into consideration.”
Ms Thomas said establishing a primary care centre and the future construction of an early parenting centre — plus new aged care facilities to be built in Numurkah — meant people in the Goulburn Valley were not being left behind.
“I’m proud of the investments that we’re making for the Goulburn Valley community,” she said.
GV Health chief executive Matt Sharp said there were still a few minor improvements to go before stage one was complete, but the health service would continue to push for funding for stage two.
“We’re certainly working hard to finalise the planning and related preparation of submissions and documents with and to the Victorian Government to be able to hopefully receive the funding for the next stages that are needed to complete the redevelopment,” he said.
“At the end of stage one, we’ll be around about 50 per cent complete in terms of what needs to actually be finalised to fully, fully close out the redevelopment.
“We’re really grateful and happy for the support we’ve received to get to this point.”
The redevelopment has doubled the capacity of the Emergency Department, allowing for 33 treatment spaces and nine short-stay beds for patients who need care for less than 24 hours, alongside two new X-ray rooms, a CT scan room and an ultrasound room.
