13 November 2022

The Albury-Wodonga community is continuing to advocate for a new world class hospital on a single site for the Border region, even though the weather forced the cancellation of a rally at Junction Square in Wodonga on Sunday.

Better Border Health said a greenfield site for the new hospital was deemed the most sensible option by an increasing majority of the community in response to last month’s announcement of $558 million in NSW and Victorian Government funding for the redevelopment of the existing Albury hospital site.

Our community does recognise the NSW and Victorian Premiers coming together in October to address the chronic underinvestment in our hospitals, as well as the signing of the intergovernmental agreement between the two states after a long delay.

However, the agreement made by the two health departments and the two governments came after their rejection of the first Clinical Services Plan released by Albury Wodonga Health in April 2021. That plan outlined the health infrastructure and services that would be needed by 2040 to meet population projections for the region. A summary of the original plan remains on the Albury Wodonga Health website.

Both State Governments requested a review of the original Clinical Services Plan in consultation with clinicians and the Project Control Group. It considered both greenfield and the Albury rebuild as options before the two health departments decided upon the Albury rebuild as the best option ahead of the Premiers’ announcement in October.

Our concern is that the details of the revised Clinical Services Plan, including the number of beds and services required to meet long-term community need, have not been made public.

There is acknowledgment that $558 million will be insufficient to complete a new hospital – whether built on a brownfield or greenfield site – without additional investment from one or all of the private sector, State and Federal Governments.

Better Border Health, in partnership with the Border Medical Association, is continuing to lobby all governments for the additional monies required to achieve the infrastructure that will fulfill the recommendations that meet population projections by future-proofing a new hospital development.

We call upon all candidates ahead of the upcoming Victorian and NSW elections to make a new hospital for our region their number 1 priority, if they haven’t already done so. We also call upon the Federal members for Indi and Farrer to join our community in calling for matching funding from the Australian Government.

It is expected to take 12 months to develop a master plan for the $558 million funding commitment – including schematics, engineering requirements, as well as identifying the facilities that will be delivered, such as the number of new beds and theatres.

This plan is expected to provide full costings of what the total build will cost, including the financial shortfall to complete the project. This period will be crucial in finalising exactly what it will cost to build a world class health service for our region.

In bringing together our community, we acknowledge the exciting journey ahead of us all. A new hospital for Albury-Wodonga will be the most important facility many of us will see undertaken within our lifetimes in this region. Its impact on us individually – and our community wellbeing as a whole – cannot be underestimated.

We know our community wants transparency throughout this process. We seek honesty and to be reassured this project will achieve an outcome that will meet the needs beyond the next decade of not only Albury and Wodonga residents, but our broader catchment that includes up to 300,000 people.