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A seven-year promise to build small hospitals across Greater Melbourne is one step closer to being fulfilled, but questions remain for residents in Pakenham and Point Cook.
The long-promised Mernda Community Hospital, on Melbourne’s northern fringe, will open its doors to the public next week, Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas announced on Saturday.
An aerial view of the Mernda Community Hospital.
The site, one of 10 promised on the eve of the 2018 election campaign by then-premier Daniel Andrews as a fix for the city’s crowded emergency departments, will initially offer allied health, pathology and early childhood services. It will expand its scope to include dialysis and community mental health from February next year.
Thomas said the Mernda facility would offer families same-day care for minor injuries, illnesses and some chronic conditions without the need for them to travel major distances to a large hospital.
“It’s all about delivering the everyday kind of care that people need to access – and want to be able to access – close to home,” Thomas said.
Mernda, about 26 kilometres north-east of the Melbourne CBD, had just 6500 residents at the start of the 2010s. The population has almost quadrupled since then.
Local state Labor MP Lauren Kathage said the community hospital would save constituents a trip to Epping Hospital, which can be a 15- to 20-minute drive in good traffic.
“It has been a matter of great excitement to see that the investment in health is coming right here to where people live,” Kathage said.
“I know that we’ll have people through the door from day one seeking help for things that they don’t have to travel to Epping for. They shouldn’t have to go down to the Austin. I’m really looking forward to the difference this will make in the community.”
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The community hospital program, which has blown out by more than $100 million despite the government scrapping of three out of the 10 original sites, has also come under fire for potentially confusing patients who present needing higher levels of care.
But Thomas on Sunday said it was still fair to call the Mernda site a hospital, even though it didn’t have an emergency department.
“Emergency departments are there for when we can treat every life-threatening emergency. This is about delivering everyday care.”
Of the seven community hospitals that remain on the government’s agenda, five – including Mernda – have begun accepting patients.
While major construction has begun on Point Cook Community Hospital in Melbourne’s west, there is no expected opening date listed on the Victorian Health Building Authority (VHBA) website.
The Point Cook facility, to be located near the Stockland shopping centre, was initially meant to open its doors last year.
Similarly, major construction at Pakenham Community Hospital wrapped up this month. However, no opening date is listed on the VHBA website.
The three facilities no longer part of the program include Eltham, Fishermans Bend and Torquay.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the community had waited long enough for the promised hospitals.
“Labor must explain when these promised community hospitals will be fully operational and what services will actually be delivered.”
As previously reported by The Age, health workers and residents in Melbourne’s booming western suburbs are waiting for brand-new, larger hospitals to open to take pressure off existing services.
Thomas on Saturday said the new Melton Hospital remained on track to be delivered by 2029.
“The Melton Hospital is going to be a game changer for people of that community.”
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