Box Hill Hospital: redevelopment

Mr CLARK (Box Hill) — Eastern suburbs residents are entitled to be disappointed and angry at the Brumby government’s breaking of Labor’s election promise to redevelop the Box Hill Hospital. The hospital’s waiting lists and waiting times are the worst of any hospital in Melbourne, despite the best efforts of the doctors, nurses and other hospital staff. The medical needs of residents of the eastern suburbs and beyond are suffering because the hospital is struggling to cope with growing numbers of patients, including elderly patients and young families, in the hospital’s current old and inadequate facilities. Patients in pain are left waiting for hours unattended in the emergency waiting room or are turned away from long-awaited operations.

The last major upgrade of the hospital was in 1998. Previous redevelopment plans were scrapped by the government after the 2002 election.

In its eastern suburbs election policy at the last election, Labor promised to redevelop the hospital, saying:

The first stage of the Box Hill Hospital redevelopment will be completed in 2008 and the staged redevelopment of the hospital will be continued until a new facility is completed.
The first preliminary stage of the redevelopment is now almost complete, but the redevelopment of the hospital is not being continued. The failure to provide funding in this year’s budget means the project will come to a halt, the project team will be wound up and the drawings filed away.

It adds insult to injury that the government set up a community consultative committee for the redevelopment chaired by the member for Burwood, which consumed hundreds of hours of volunteer time, falsely raised expectations and left the community abandoned. The health needs of hundreds of thousands of eastern suburbs residents cannot simply be brushed aside. Labor must be forced to honour its promise and continue this much-needed redevelopment.

Hansard: 8 May 2008 ASSEMBLY