By Shelby Brooks and Marcus Uhe
The Coalition has promised $500m to build a second campus of Casey Hospital within Pakenham, kitted out with an urgent care department and maternity ward, to rival Labor’s “GP clinic” plan for the old Woolworths site on John Street.
Opposition leader Matthew Guy made the election promise on Tuesday 1 November, along with Pakenham candidate David Farrelly, Berwick candidate Brad Battin and Bass candidate Aaron Brown.
“It’s the Paky campus of Casey Hospital,” Mr Guy said.
“So you’re not creating one resource here which is totally different from another up the road, you’ve got one resource with two campuses so they can disperse their services across the growth area.”
In June last year, the State Government identified 67-69 Main Street Pakenham as the preferred site for the Pakenham Community Hospital, stating it would provide a range of integrated community health and specialist services.
Mr Guy said Labor’s plan wasn’t adequate for the growing area.
“It’s not a real hospital, you can’t stay overnight,” he said.
“They will build you a GP clinic, we’ll build you a hospital.”
The Coalition’s hospital plan will include an urgent care centre with a dedicated children’s treatment area, 150 beds, general and specialist surgery operating theatres, maternity services, specialist consulting rooms and a 750-space car park for staff, patients and visitors, among other services, with funding to be sourced from the planned Box Hill to Cheltenham Suburban Rail Loop, set to be scrapped by Mr Guy.
“Labor’s GP clinic they promised four years ago today sits as derelict shops in the middle of what should be a prosperous town centre,” Mr Guy said.
“Our plan is fully funded, we’ve got that money out of the suburban rail loop and we’re making sure it goes to health. We don’t need to borrow or increase taxes – the money is there.”
The Coalition also feels the old Pakenham Woolworths site is not appropriate for their project.
“We’re going to work out a location,” Mr Battin said.
“This may not be suitable in size or location, but the site will still be within Pakenham and then we’ll work out what happens with this current site.”
Mr Guy said Pakenham needed its own hospital due to the massive growth in the area.
“Pakenham is the major town centre, it’s that point between the Casey Hospital and the new Warragul Hospital,” he said.
“It’s the population midway point so it can serve the growing communities.”
He also said the 20,000 people set to move into Pakenham East made a hospital essential to the area.
“The population of Echuca is about to move into Pakenham East – Echuca has a hospital to itself so that’s a reason we need another down here,” he said.
The party will conduct extensive consultation with the communities of Casey and Cardinia as well as Monash Health to determine a suitable greenfield site, the opposition said.
The design of the first-stage hospital will allow for future expansion, including a full emergency department and significant new additional beds, to cater for expected population growth in the area.
Local jobs are also set to benefit, with the Liberals and Nationals’ plan to rebuild and update hospitals across the state to create more than 22,000 jobs during construction, they said.
On the other hand, Casey Hospital will receive a share of $236 million in funding to double the capacity of its emergency department as part of $2.3 billion to upgrade existing and build new hospitals across the state, the Labor Party announced in May’s 2022-23 state budget.
Up to $295 million will be committed to upgrading Dandenong Hospital under a re-elected Labor Government, Premier Daniel Andrews announced last week.
Both Dandenong Hospital and Casey Hospital are operated by Monash Health, as will the proposed second campus of Casey.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said the Victorian Government was delivering the Pakenham Community Hospital so locals could get the care they needed close to home.
Retailers within the former Woolworths building located at Pakenham Place have been advised that they need to vacate by 15 February 2023.
“To deliver this, some retailers have been asked to vacate the premise – while this was a difficult decision, this is an essential step in delivering this hospital, and we’ll continue to engage with those affected throughout the process,” the spokesperson said.
“Located at the old Woolworths site, the hospital will deliver services including day surgery, urgent care, dental, chronic disease management, specialist medical care and diagnostic services, taking pressure off nearby the Casey Hospital.”
Labor’s Pakenham Community Hospital was promised as part of a $675 million investment to build 10 community hospital in major growth areas.
