State Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed says she is committed to advocate for funding for Goulburn Valley Health’s continued redevelopment in her next four years in Parliament, should she be re-elected.
Ms Sheed said a multi-level car park for staff and funding for the clinical medical school were her top priorities.
Ms Sheed said the Victorian Government had already handed out more than $400 million for the hospital redevelopment and new mental health unit.
“We need to continue this momentum, with particular attention to the safety, retention and encouragement of medical staff,” Ms Sheed said.
“A multi-deck car park should be a priority for the accessibility and safety of staff, who often have to walk to their cars parked on side streets at all hours of the day and night.
“I also want to see the establishment of a clinical school, so we can train our Shepparton District residents to take on important medical jobs in their own community.”
She said those two projects would go “some way” to help address staff shortages, which had hit Shepparton hard over the past five weeks.
“We need to find ways to attract and retain medical staff to our district and to do this we will need to come up with incentives in the form of increased wages and housing packages,” Ms Sheed said.
“We cannot afford for any more health staff to leave and we need to make their work life as easy as possible to not only allow them to care for our community but to show them that we care and respect them for the work they do for us 365 days a year.”
Ms Sheed said after those two funding goals were secured, she would like to see GV Health receive a second multi-storey inpatient unit building, an integrated cancer centre, children and young people’s hub, and a replacement for the psychogeriatric nursing home, Grutzner House.