By Deanne Jeffers
VICTORIAN Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas was in Shepparton last week to announce that Goulburn Valley Health will receive $10.2M to build a new three-storey apartment block to accommodate visiting medical staff and new employees.
Matt Sharp, GV Health CEO, said that the project is a “game changer” for the hospital, alleviating the cost of finding accommodation for staff while providing modern, fit-for-purpose accommodation.
“What that means primarily for our doctors and our medical staff is that they’ll have close proximity and access to the wards and services, the emergency department, where they need to work. Particularly, it will be secure, which is important when they’re working on call and after hours to be able to attend quickly to any emergencies,” Mr Sharp said.
“Right now, we are providing accommodation to 150 staff through a combination of residential properties that we lease but we also use serviced apartments. So, we lease over 70 properties and use about 30 serviced accommodation apartments.
“We also foresee that is going to save us approximately a million dollars a year in costs that we currently pay for those serviced apartments.”
The project will deliver 18 dwellings, comprising 21 bedrooms, with direct access to GV Health’s Graham Street campus. Once complete, dwellings will be made available to key medical workers at GV Health, with delivery targeted for April 2026.
Michael Delahuntly, GV Health board chair, thanked the Victorian Government for the contribution, awarded via the Regional Health Infrastructure Fund, and said it would help the hospital to overcome ongoing accommodation shortages and attract health workers to the region.
“Our greatest challenge as a health service, and what most health services are being challenged by at the moment, is workforce. We’re doing everything possible to retain our existing workforce and to recruit more, and the provision of accommodation is essential in those strategies,” Mr Delahuntly said.
Minister Thomas also announced funding for hospitals in Kyabram and Echuca, with Kyabram to receive $4.5M to upgrade the operating theatre and procedure rooms, and $9.7M in Echuca to upgrade the sterilising department and to expand and improve their services.
