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Doctors welcome Box Hill Hospital bed increase
09 December 2009.
AMA Victoria welcomed the Brumby Government’s announcement today to ease waits for emergency care and elective surgery at Box Hill Hospital by adding more than one hundred extra hospital beds as part of a five year redevelopment.
The $407.5 million Box Hill Hospital redevelopment project will begin next year and include a new cardiology ward and emergency facilities.
AMA Victoria President Dr Harry Hemley said the redevelopment was integral to reducing the long waits for care at the hospital. "Patient waits for care at Box Hill Hospital are among the longest in the state," he said.
"Box Hill Hospital’s doctors, nurses and other staff have been under enormous pressure in recent years and patients have been forced to wait well beyond the clinically recommended times for care.
"Over the past year, fewer than half of Box Hill’s category three emergency department patients who experienced moderately severe blood loss, broken wrists, persistent vomiting, or dehydration were seen within the recommended thirty minutes."
Dr Hemley said increasing the capacity of the public hospital system was one of the most important measures to ensure Victoria’s hospitals could cope with future demand.
"This is the type of bed increase we need to see right across the system. We need an extra 187 beds each year to cater for Victoria’s growing and ageing population. The Box Hill Hospital redevelopment is a great start – now we need to see a plan for future growth."
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