By Deanne Jeffers
THE need for the completed GV Health redevelopment has been highlighted by Greater Shepparton City Council’s 2025/26 Australian Government advocacy documents, ‘Greater Shepparton, Greater Possibilities’, outlining the region’s top infrastructure priorities ahead of the Federal election.
The document underscores the need for a ‘Regionally Significant, Contemporary Public Health Service’, which includes completing the full Shepparton Hospital Redevelopment with an Integrated Cancer Centre, and an Institute of Applied Health Learning, to train medical professionals in the region and address workforce shortages.
In 2021, a new masterplan for GV Health’s Shepparton Hospital was developed, after significant portions of the existing facility were identified as being no longer fit-for-purpose and in need of replacement. The first stage of the GV Health Shepparton Hospital Redevelopment commenced in 2018 with major construction completed in 2024. Despite this, around 50 per cent of the site still needs to be redeveloped, and new capital funding is required to deliver this vital work.
Completing the full redevelopment is necessary to address critical gaps in the availability of contemporary care and treatment facilities for the Goulburn Valley and surrounding regions, particularly in relation to cancer care treatment, pathology services, inpatient capacity, specialist clinics, ambulatory services and car-parking.
“A new funding commitment to complete construction of the full GV Health masterplan is vital to closing the gaps in care in our region. The accompanying Goulburn Valley Integrated Cancer Centre and Institute of Applied Health Learning will ensure our health care services meet the demand of our growing community,” Cr Sali said.
GV Health CEO, Matt Sharp, said the Goulburn Valley Institue of Applied Health Learning is a vital step to addressing critical workforce shortages.
“It will be a state-of-the-art facility for rural nursing and allied health education. It will also complement the existing Undergraduate education that extend into Postgraduate education as well,” said Mr Sharp.
“The proposal is that it would be co-located within the Health Education precinct, directly adjacent to Goulburn Valley Health.
“It’s an important piece of the puzzle that we need to continue to grow our services into the future. Because, as people would be aware, we’ve been fortunate to have some good capital programs developing our facilities in recent times, but we need staff to be able to run and operate those services now and into the future.”
Find out more by visiting https://greatershepparton.com.au/advocacy/federal2025/
