THE redevelopment of the Swan Hill District Health emergency department is another step closer with the release of rendered images by the State Government.
“I’m so delighted with the designs,” SHDH acting chief executive Chloe Keogh said.
“There’s been a combination of people working to put this together, and it’s come up great.
“There’s a sense of relief as it’s great to finally share this with the community after what we’ve been living with over the last couple of years.”
The designs give the community a first look at what will be the new emergency department building and clinical spaces.
“Swan Hill District Health’s nurses, doctors, allied health and orderlies do an incredible job,” Member for Northern Victoria Mark Gepp said.
“We’re supporting them with new facilities to do what they do best – saving lives.”
The upgrade will add a four-bed short-stay unit, an isolation room and a behavioural assessment room.
Ms Keogh said the behavioural assessment room was “a room police and paramedics can use to help people who need to be supported with their behaviour”.
“It gives them time to quiet things down in a safe place and help the person de-escalate.”
Mayor Jade Benham was also pleased with the designs. “This is a great start,” she said.
“I’m happy to see pictures – they’re pretty, and it looks functional.
“But pictures are nice as long as internally it’s going to be full of doctors, nurses, equipment and all the infrastructure you need.”
The first step of the process will involve moving staff from the old nurses’ home to somewhere temporary while the emergency department is being built.
Next, the master plan will be put into action.
“The way we designed it, there is a stackable option,” Ms Keogh said.
“We can add additional layers on top of the ED to house wards for our master planning process. We have factored that into the design.”
Cr Benham said the extended renders she had seen of the completed hospital “look amazing”.
“It would be great if someone would commit to funding stages two, three and four so we didn’t have to take the cranes away and bring them back to work whilst having a functioning ED.”
Cr Benham is confident the required funding will arrive but would prefer this to be sooner. “The funding will come, it would just be nice if we could have stage two committed.
“It is an election year. If promises are ever going to be made, it’s now.”
The building process is expected to create a job boom, including 145 construction jobs.
“The hospital is one of the biggest employers in Swan Hill, and they’ll up their game again with another 100 jobs,” Cr Benham said.
Cr Benham and Ms Keogh said they were hopeful the modernisation of the hospital would attract both workers and families.
“Looking at research, having new facilities does attract staff,” Ms Keogh said.
“People like to work in new environments with state-of-the-art equipment, but we also respect our current staff, and they will be equally delighted to have this.”
“Health care and education, when families are looking to relocate, are what they look at,” Cr Benham said. “So, with a modernised hospital, it makes the sell to live here much easier.”
Works will begin later in the year and are expected to be finished in 2025.
