Melton Council launched plans for a 24-hour hospital, complete with a full emergency department, surgery and intensive care capabilities 100 days out from the Victorian election.

 

With Melton’s population set to pass 250,000 by 2031 and no “acceptable” hospitals within a 30 minute drive, the council is stepping up the pressure on the Andrews Government and State Opposition to back the plan or risk creating a health black hole.

While the Bacchus Marsh hospital is only a 15 minute drive from central Melton, an independent report commissioned by the council claims it “cannot be considered an acceptable substitute due to its small size, as well as its recent quality issues, particularly in maternity.”

The Herald Sun understands the fallout from the Bacchus Marsh baby deaths scandal, in which 11 babies were found to have died in potentially avoidable circumstances, has added to the push for a new regional hospital and contributed to a 10 per cent drop in acute admissions over the past two years.

With no main roads or public transport linking Melton to major hospitals in Sunshine, Footscray or Ballarat, Melton Council mayor Bob Turner said communities from Woodend to Wyndham needed a new hospital.

“If we get delivered a fully serviced, 24-hour hospital, that would relieve not only our community but the other hospitals in the west,” Mr Turner said.

“It is time for the government to invest in the west. We really need this hospital. Our community are the ones who deal with this problem week in, week out, and we just need the government to deliver.”

Plans for a Melton hospital forming for more than seven years, but intensified in last 24 months with the council determined to make it a State Election issue.

The Council and community groups have identified a greenfields site next to the Toolern railway station, which currently being completed by the Andrews Government.

The proposal calls for a Melton hospital with a full emergency department, cardiac and intensive care, cardiac and acute surgery, and diagnostic services as a minium.

A consultant’s report states the hospital would have performed more than 5,700 surgeries if it was open last year, forecasting activity to soar to almost 10,000 operations by 2031.

“The conclusion however is that there is demonstrable demand for a hospital in Melton now and this will only escalate in future years given the population forecasts outlined,” the Evaluate report states.

“This is compounded by three factors: lower than state average rates of education; high rates of refugee settlement; and poor gender equity expressed in high rates of limited access to transport for women. All of these are factors which amplify the travel time problem for the population.”

Premier Daniel Andrews acknowledged there was always a need for further health funding in growth areas but had no announcement on a push to build a hospital in Melton.

“The government has always invested in our health system and over the next 100 days we will map out a clear plan to continue investing,” he said.

But he said in Melbourne’s West the government had committed to the Footscray Hospital redevelopment and building the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Sunshine.

He said every hospital across the state was supported by the government. But he said the community push for a Melton Hospital was not a reflection on the trouble-plagued Bacchus Marsh Hospital.

The Andrews Government has poured more than $10 million into Bacchus Marsh hospital while completely overhauling its systems.

But Melton Council general manager of corporate services, Peter Bean, said the region’s population would reach 400,000 in the next 30 years and action was needed.

“We have a location in Melton which we believe is the ring in the doughnut effectively to provide the greatest level of access and the greatest level of service to the greatest catchment of people.”

“So many people are choosing to live in townships outside the urban growth boundary, in places like Gisborne, Woodend, Bacchus Marsh, Ballan and those outlying areas, and for people like to get access to places like Sunshine and Footscray is becoming more and more problematic.

“The work they are doing to Sunshine hospital, at the moment and the plans they are proposing for the Footscray hospital go some way to addressing the current needs of the population of western Melbourne, but they are no to future proof the needs of western Melbourne.”