By KATH GANNAWAY
ANGLISS Hospital at Upper Ferntree Gully will get a $20 million Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and a Short Stay Unit (SSU) if Labor wins government in November.
Labor leader Daniel Andrews was at the hospital on Monday, 1 September, to announce plans for a 12-bed ICU and an eight-bed SSU to be open before 2018.
The ICU would be a first for the hospital.
Making the announcement along with Member for Monbulk, James Merlino, Opposition Health Minister Gavin Jennings and Labor candidate for Ferntree Gully Matt Posetti, Mr Andrews said the ICU would be a lifeline for locals who needed urgent care and that the Short Stay Unit would free up other hospital resources and reduce emergency department treatment times.
Eastern Health’s clinical services plan, Eastern Health 2022 which was launched in March last year, recommends enhancing services for critically ill patients at the Angliss, and includes provision for an ICU.
Ben Kelly, Chief of Clinical and Site Operations at Angliss said Eastern Health’s plans included critical care services that supported the expanded range of clinical services required at the site, along with a busy emergency service.
Mr Kelly said as the new services were established, the hospital would be positioned to accommodate more complex patients.
“Inpatient accommodation is a priority and the site will undergo revised master planning to ensure its buildings and infrastructure are able to meet future demands,” he said.
With an election just three months away, Mr Andrews hit out at the Coalition Government, blaming a lack of funding for what he claimed resulted in one in three emergency presentations at Angliss not getting treated in time.
“It’s not the fault of the doctors, the ambulance or any of the staff here, they do a great job – it’s down to it not being properly funded by Denis Napthine,” he said.
Ashley Gardiner, senior media adviser to Health Minister David Davis hit back saying Labor had funded nothing at the Angliss after 2004 and had spent nothing on capital works at the hospital for most of its 11 years in government.
He said the Coalition Government had increased annual funding to Eastern Health by $133 million, and, while there was no matching commitment at this stage, voters should ‘watch this space’ for Coalition policy announcements over coming months.
Mr Kelly, in answer to the one in three claim, said the Victorian Health Services Performance Report for the Angliss for the March quarter showed it treated 100 per cent of category one patients immediately on arrival and was above the statewide targets for category two and three emergency patients.
Politics aside, Hills residents Kylie Verburgt and Lisa Toogood welcomed the possibility of local critical care services.
Ms Verburgt said she had been in and out of hospitals since her daughter Summer was born and the facilities her family needed weren’t available at the Angliss.
Ms Toogood said she knew many people among family and friends who had found themselves in the same situation.
“If we could come here instead of having to travel to other specialised hospitals, it would be so much better,” Ms Verburgt said.
“Hopefully that funding will make a difference to us and to many others,” she said.
