Thursday, 27 August 2026

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (22:04): (2750) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Health, and the action that I seek is for the minister to fund the redevelopment of the urgent care area at the Daylesford hospital. Daylesford hospital is in the electorate of Mary-Anne Thomas, the retiring member for Macedon and former Minister for Health. Despite the local member having been the health minister for the past four years, Daylesford hospital has been ignored repeatedly in the last several state budgets and there has been no significant funding to upgrade the ageing and run-down buildings. The chair of the Daylesford Hospital Upgrade Appeal Committee expressed her dismay with the condition of the hospital, saying in 2022:

… we have a hospital facility … where the staff is great, the services are terrific … that has a roof that leaks in poor weather.

The existing facilities at Daylesford hospital have not been upgraded for well over 20 years and are in desperate need of refurbishment and improvement. The disappointing reality stands in contrast to recent comments made by the former health minister. In her valedictory speech the retiring member for Macedon Mary-Anne Thomas said that the Daylesford community had benefited from major investments in health. Anyone who has visited Daylesford hospital, as the candidate for Macedon and I have, will know that it is just not true. Far from receiving major investments, the hospital has been ignored and allowed to fall into disrepair. The former Minister for Health totally neglected this important hospital in her own electorate, and the only upgrade in recent memory was a slightly enlarged theatre room.

The Labor government has so neglected the Daylesford health service that the community had to fundraise $100,000 themselves just to pay for the redevelopment master plan. It is a well-designed master plan which has been seen and approved, with some changes, by the Victorian Health Building Authority. It outlines staged upgrades for the gradual improvement of the hospital over time, and yet no new money has been allocated for this vital health service. Community advocates for a better Daylesford hospital are prioritising an upgrade to the urgent care area, where presentations continue rising by up to 5.8 per cent year on year. In accordance with the master plan, the urgent care area has been identified as needing significant redevelopment to address existing access constraints, patient privacy, security and service capacity. The upgrade would increase the hospital’s ability to respond to increasing patient demand and changing service requirements. A major component of the proposal is a reconfiguration of the ambulance access to establish a separate, dedicated entrance and patient transfer area. There would also be alterations inside the building to improve the waiting area and enable a more efficient patient flow.