GV Health has welcomed a Greater Shepparton City Council decision that could pave the way for the construction of vital health services and accommodation in the city.
Council voted at its meeting on November 21 to initiate proceedings, which, if successful, would lead to the sale of two blocks of land totalling 13,746 sqm, or just over 1.3 ha, across an area it is referring to as 45 Parkside Dve in Shepparton North, to the Victorian Health Department.
It has been proposed that an early parenting centre and accommodation for GV Health staff be built on the land.
“It’s very positive,” GV Health chief executive Matt Sharp said.
“We’ve been working on these two projects for a little while, but the early parenting centre for a long time.
“They’re two separate projects but related in terms of the same parcel of land being potentially used for their separate purposes.”
The land had previously been put forward for an affordable housing development, but that failed to proceed when funding was not forthcoming.
Mr Sharp said it was too early to say how many beds the accommodation aspect of the latest proposal would provide, but GV Health had a great need for it.
“In terms of the demand, at the moment, GV Health is renting approximately 70 residential properties in Shepparton, and out of those 70 properties, we accommodate around 140 to 145 people a night in those properties,” Mr Sharp said.
“We also use around 30 serviced apartments each night as well, so our accommodation needs at the moment are in the order of 170 to 180 beds a night.”
Mr Sharp said the accommodation was provided to staff relocating from other parts of Victoria, interstate or overseas, to staff undertaking training, rotating from metropolitan hospitals for short periods.
“We’ve got obligations in employment agreements to provide that accommodation and then we have a large number of staff who are working on temporary contracts that need accommodation as well, so it’s a mixed-use in terms of right now for our accommodation needs, and that’s only going to continue into the future,” he said.
Mr Sharp said the proposed early parenting centre would also cater to vital needs in the region, pointing to greater rates of vulnerability in the Goulburn Valley than in other parts of Victoria.
“We have lower breastfeeding rates, for example. We have higher rates of postnatal depression compared to the rest of the state as well, so that’s what this service is really trying to focus on,” he said.
“Some of those indicators where our region isn’t as strong as it could be in terms of these services and bringing them in so we can support children and infants aged one to four years.”
Mr Sharp emphasised that the land sale and developments were only proposals.
“Both are in their very early stages,” he said.
“There’s quite a detailed statutory and regulatory process that both council and GV Health, and the Department of Health, need to follow, and what’s happened in the last week or so with the council meeting is really just the beginning of that process.”