By Aaron Cordy
ATTRACTING healthcare professionals to the region has taken a big step with the completion of 33 new apartments at GV Health. The project includes 18 self-contained apartments supported through the Regional Health Infrastructure Fund, alongside 15 apartments backed by the Regional Worker Accommodation Fund.
Located adjacent to Shepparton Hospital, the three-storey accommodation will provide ideal lodgings for up to 39 workers at a time, including doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and other staff.
Minister for Rural and Regional Development Michaela Settle was on site on Tuesday, September 1, to mark the completion.
“It’s about making sure that doctors can come, that allied health and nurses have somewhere to stay. It also means that we can open up housing stock for the general community. So, in the past, GV Health has had housing stock that they use, and now they have them here on site. So, it means there’s more houses out there for the general community and great specialists here in town,” said Ms Settle.
Local builder Hansen Yuncken delivered the site.
“This is a game changer, this project. What it allows for us to have is 39 staff located here on the main campus at Shepparton Hospital for GV Health. They’re closely located to all of the services that they need to provide,” said GV Health Chief Executive Matt Sharp.
“Why this is particularly important is because often a lot of our staff work on call; they work hours overnight, and they need to be able to access or get in quickly to services and provide that care, often in a time-critical situation that our community needs.
“You only need to have a look at the quality of the finish of these apartments, and to have 33 apartments of this standard for staff at GV Health, it is a real game changer because having stable and comfortable accommodation for staff who are relocating is something that’s really important to them.”
