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“But we are treating it in a different way now because you’ve got to move beyond this.”
The Dandenong Hospital upgrade will help treat 12,000 more patients per year and create 750 jobs, but construction will not even begin in the next term of government. Construction will begin in 2026, the year Victorians next go to the polls after this coming election.
Dandenong Hospital in Melbourne’s south-east.Credit:Greg Briggs
“We know that our south-eastern suburbs are booming, and the health system needs to grow to keep pace with that and indeed to have additional capacity beyond it,” Andrews said on Saturday.
“The best way to thank our staff for the quite amazing job that they’ve done over these last few years, and the work they do every year, is to give them the very best facilities.”
Between July to September, about 3650 patients waited more than 24 hours in emergency departments for a hospital bed, a figure 13 times higher than the 270 patients who had to wait during the same quarter last year.
The government also announced major construction was complete on the $577 million Victoria Heart Hospital at Monash University, Australia’s first specialist cardiac hospital.
An artist’s depiction of the Victorian Heart Hospital, at Monash University’s Clayton campus.Credit:Conrad Gargett in Joint Venture with John Wardle Architects
It has 206 beds and will provide up to 2150 cardiac surgeries annually. The hospital will also cater for 28,300 emergency presentations and 108,000 consultations and outpatient appointments every year.
“It’s the first of its kind in Australia, and it will undoubtedly be a place that attracts the best and brightest from all around the world to learn, research, and develop new technologies and new procedures right here,” Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said.
Meanwhile, the opposition announced on Saturday a $1.5 billion investment to upgrade western suburbs roads, including a $700 million upgrade to the Western Highway, $117 million to duplicate the Melton Highway between Melton – in the key battleground seat – and Hillside, and $146 million to duplicate Point Cook Road in the suburbs of Point Cook and Seabrook.
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