New Echuca Hospital plans released

21 April 2011

Draft plans have been unveiled for a $40 million rebuild of Echuca Regional Health.

With some parts of the hospital over 120 years old, the current facility needs to expand to meet the demands of the growing community.

Echuca Regional Health (ERH) is the largest sub-regional health service in Northern Victoria and services a catchment population of about 40,000 people from towns including Echuca, Moama, Deniliquin and the shires of Campaspe and Murray.

Population projections indicate significant growth in the Echuca (24 per cent increase to 2021) and Murray (22 per cent increase to 2021) local government areas.

The $40 million commitment proposes significant enhancements and expansion in new purpose-built acute facilities. The proposed redevelopment will provide:

• Emergency Department – nine treatment rooms, two children’s treatment cubicles, two resuscitation bays, one isolation room, one secure room, two interview rooms and two ambulance bays.
• Short stay/Medical Assessment and Procedure Unit (MAPU) – six beds co-located with the Emergency Department.
• Maternity and Paediatrics – two delivery suites and one assessment/delivery room, two Level 1 nursery cots, six antenatal/post-natal beds, one antenatal day assessment room, two paediatric beds and one paediatric treatment room.
• Medical Ward – 24 medical beds, six high dependency/cardiac monitored beds and one treatment room.
• Surgical Ward – 30 surgical beds.
• Redeveloped front entry.

The redevelopment will provide an increased capacity of 22 multi day beds, six short stay observational beds and ten treatment spaces in the emergency department to meet growth demands for ERH.

An application to the Health and Hospitals Fund for ERH for the next stage of works is also being considered by the Commonwealth.

Further information

For further information, visit the Echuca Regional Health website.