Thursday, 5 February 2026

 Tim BULL (Gippsland East) (17:14): (1511) My adjournment is to the Minister for Health Infrastructure, and the action I seek is for the minister to expedite the master planning process for the Bairnsdale hospital this financial year. As a bit of background, in 2022 the board did undertake a master planning process and developed a comprehensive future development plan. But I am advised that the plan that was actually completed back then was done without the approved entity service plan, so it did not have the support of the Victorian Health Building Authority. The Department of Health’s health planning unit and the Bairnsdale Regional Health Service have now completed and endorsed that entity service plan. This plan confirmed what we are already very, very aware of in this community, and that is that we have a big, pronounced deficiency in points of care in the emergency department. We need additional treatment spaces in our ED and resuscitation spaces, as well as some purpose-built treatment spaces. Presently the situation is we have a nine-cubicle emergency department. That not only does not meet the needs of our growing community, but when we have a large holiday influx into our area, it really exacerbates the problem. The hospital needs to meet our future population growth demands as well as our increased tourism visitations at that time of the year.

Our community does deserve a hospital that meets not only our future demands but our current demands, and it is not even meeting our current demands. The minister might also recall that I stood in this place not long ago and spoke about the lift that has malfunctioned, necessitating unsafe stair transfer for elderly patients and also women in the maternity ward having to come downstairs if they need a caesarean – totally inappropriate in this day and age. I seek the minister’s assistance to expedite the master planning process, which will avoid compromised health outcomes for not only our local community in East Gippsland but visitors to the area. We need a new hospital, and we need this plan done to start the process.