The New South
Wales and Victorian governments are working together to build a new emergency
department and the first short stay unit at Albury Wodonga Health to meet the
future health needs of the community.
NSW Minister for Health and Medical Research Brad Hazzard, Victorian
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Jenny Mikakos and NSW Member for
Albury Justin Clancy visited Albury Wodonga Health today to announce the almost
$36 million redevelopment.
Mr Hazzard said the strong
relationship between the NSW and Victorian governments will help ensure
the Albury-Wodonga community receives world-class healthcare close to home.
“The NSW
Liberal & Nationals Government has committed $30 million to expand Albury
Wodonga Health’s emergency department from 16 to 42 treatment spaces to provide
the community with high quality emergency care now and into the future,” Mr
Hazzard said.
Ms Mikakos said
the Victorian Health and Human Services Building Authority will work closely
with NSW Health and NSW Health Infrastructure to successfully deliver the
project.
“The Andrews
Labor Government is providing almost
$6 million to build a 16 bed short stay unit which will help reduce wait times in the emergency department, so local patients can get the very best care,
sooner,” Ms Mikakos said.
Mr Clancy said
the $36 million investment is welcome news for the local community.
“With one of the busiest emergency departments in regional Australia,
this funding is crucial to enabling Albury Wodonga Health to meet demand,” Mr
Clancy said.
Member for
Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes said the redevelopment of the emergency
department together with the short stay unit will ensure the region has access
to critical health services.
“It will
support almost 80,000 patients projected to go through the emergency department
by 2031,” Ms Symes said.
The NSW Government has invested $10 billion on health infrastructure
statewide since 2011, and is investing $10.1 billion more over the next four
years, including more than $900 million for rural and regional areas in
2019-20.
The Victorian Government has committed $7 billion on health infrastructure since 2015, delivering the largest health building program in the state’s history.
The project will begin this year and is expected to be completed by
2022.