An extra 7,000 patients in the West will receive care and treatment at Sunshine Hospital with a $61.3 million funding boost for infrastructure works at Western Health’s Sunshine and Footscray Hospital in the Victorian Labor Government Budget 2016/17.

At Sunshine Hospital, $44.3 million means an extra 64 new surgical and emergency beds, as part of a plan to use the extra space that will be available once the new Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital is complete.

This includes:

• A 32 bed surgical inpatient ward to increase capacity for elective surgery
• 12 surgical short stay (recovery) beds
• Emergency department capacity will be increased with an expanded 20 bed short stay unit (increase of 8 beds) and an additional 12 Emergency Department cubicles

The funding will also support important infrastructure upgrades for the Hospital’s back office and administration services.

These important works at Sunshine Hospital will begin in 2018 in the space created after patients and services have moved across to the brand new Joan Kirner Women and Children’s Hospital.

Footscray Hospital has also received funding for urgent works to fix key sections of the Hospital and to undertake important planning work for the future.

This $17 million cash injection will make sure those areas of the Hospital that need the most work will get the urgent fix they require to continue to provide safe and high quality care to patients.

Melbourne’s West is one of the fastest growing areas in Australia and it’s vital we have the right health care services in place to best meet demand and deliver the high quality care the community need and deserve.

We are focused on making sure we have the right services and infrastructure in place in Melbourne’s West so we can best meet the demands of our rapidly growing community.