The state government is under increasing pressure to fund Werribee Mercy Hospital’s planned $85 million critical care unit.
Mercy Health and the not-for-profit Werribee Hospital Foundation have pledged $2 million to the hospital’s planned expansion ahead of next month’s state budget. The expansion would add a critical care unit, six operating theatres and 56 inpatient beds.
Foundation chairman Nik Tsardakis said the lack of a critical care unit forced the transfer of up to 90 patients each month from the Mercy’s emergency department to other hospitals with the capacity to offer intensive, coronary and high-dependency services.
Mr Tsardakis said transferring patients to other hospitals put pressure on paramedics and emergency departments while blocking cubicles and diverting staff from other patients.
“Werribee Mercy Hospital is the hub of public health care in Wyndham,” he said.
“Unfortunately, many of our residents can’t receive the urgent care they need due to a lack of important health services.”
Last year, Mercy Health chief executive Stephen Cornelissen said having its own critical care unit was essential for the hospital to perform.
“With the closest critical-care unit more than 22 kilometres away, few could argue that the Wyndham community faces some of the poorest access to health services in metropolitan Melbourne,” Adjunct Professor Cornelissen said.
“The only way we can continue to provide and build on our great service is through a commitment of further state government funding.”
With Wyndham still Victoria’s fastest- growing municipality, having a population now in excess of 200,000, Adjunct Professor Cornelissen said the hospital’s expansion was desperately needed.
“Demand for our services will only increase in coming years with Wyndham’s population predicted to rise to more than 384,000 by 2035,” he said.
Committee for Wyndham chief executive Chris Potaris said the hospital and the community could not wait any longer for better health services.
“During the past five years, the hospital has transferred 588 patients to critical-care services at other hospitals,” he said. “It is consistently the worst-performing outer metropolitan hospital for emergency patients whose length of stay is greater than 24 hours.”
State Treasurer and Werribee MP Tim Pallas dodged Star Weekly questions about government funding for the Mercy’s critical care unit, claiming the health system was under “immense pressure” as a result of cuts made by the former government, and made reference to Labor’s planned $200 million women’s and children’s hospital at Sunshine.
