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This article was published on Wednesday, 20 April, 2016. The information contained within may be out of date or inaccurate. News articles and media releases older than 60 days are archived for future reference.

Mayor welcomes hospital funding announcement

Three new operating theatres, two new wards, an extended Emergency Department, and a refurbished maternity unit will all be part of the complete rebuild of the hospital in Shepparton with funding from the Andrews Labor Government in the upcoming 2016/17 Victorian Budget.

Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Health Jill Hennessy joined members of the community to announce the $168.5 million redevelopment, which will ensure GV Health is able to treat more patients in modern, state of the art facilities, with reduced wait times in both the emergency department and for elective surgery.

“Council has been a long term advocate for this redevelopment so we are thrilled with today’s announcement”, said Cr Adem. “The GV Health redevelopment has been one of several projects for which we have continuously lobbied support from the state government over many, many years. The collective efforts of the GV Health Board, the Committee for Greater Shepparton, and Council, led passionately by Suzanna Sheed MP Independent Member for Shepparton District, have all contributed to this outcome.”

“As a key regional city Greater Shepparton warrants a modern public hospital that fully services the needs of our region. We congratulate the state government in recognising the current limitations of our public health service and being committed to the provision of quality and contemporary health care for our community.”

The redevelopment includes:

A new four-storey tower will provide three new operating theatres and two new wards, and existing theatres will be refurbished to provide greater efficiency with operations.
The existing Emergency Department will be extended to add extra treatment bays, doubling its current capacity, and a new short-stay unit to improve patient wait times.
The hospital’s maternity unit will be refurbished, and a new Special Care Nursery will be constructed.
Patients needing dialysis at Goulburn Valley Health will receive their treatment in greater comfort, with the existing chairs to be replaced with a new, expanded 16 chair unit.
Medical imaging services will be expanded and modernised as part of the redevelopment.

The Greater Shepparton community will continue to be extensively involved in planning the redevelopment, with Independent Member for Shepparton, Suzanna Sheed chairing the Community Advisory Group to ensure that community needs are front and centre of the project.

The hospital redevelopment project follows on from the $1 million in planning money provided in last year’s Budget to get the project on track.

The project is expected to commence in 2018 and be completed in late 2020, with more than 140 jobs to be created during peak construction.

“One of Council’s core tasks is to advocate on behalf of its community which we have actively undertaken through the likes of the Make Shepparton Greater campaign and regular Ministerial meetings. These efforts have recently seen a state government commitment to construction of a new court house and a potential new SAM, and today we can add the hospital redevelopment to this list."

"Today is a good day for Greater Shepparton,” said Cr Adem.