Hospital gets $30 million lifeline to finish troubled redevelopment

Date
    February 14, 2016
    The Age

The stalled redevelopment of the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital has been thrown a lifeline and will be completed before the next state election, despite costs blowing out to $200 million after buildings were found to be riddled with asbestos. 

After months of the project being in limbo, the Andrews government has decided to pump an extra $31.4 million into the long-awaited redevelopment, but construction will not be completed until late 2018 – one year later than originally planned and five years after work began under the Coalition.

The funding – about two thirds from the state and one-third from the hospital - will give the health service some much-needed certainty after a series of delays and overruns, which culminated in November when the discovery of asbestos plunged the project into chaos.

Once completed, patients will have a new five-level building with seven operating rooms, recovery spaces, extra beds, a new emergency department and outpatients consulting rooms. The upper levels will also provide space for teaching, training and research.

Health Minister Jill Hennessy, who will announce the funding on Sunday, accused the former Liberal government of botching the redevelopment by failing to properly plan for significant asbestos removal, leaving behind a $30 million "black hole". 

"This is $30 million that could be used to treat more patients, deliver more hospital beds or reduce waiting times – instead we've been forced to use it to fix up the mess the Liberals left behind," Ms Hennessy said.   

Redevelopment of the hospital began under the former Coalition government in 2013, with completion originally set for 2017. But opposition health spokeswoman Mary Wooldridge rejected claims the Coalition had failed to adequately plan for the project, saying Premier Daniel Andrews had known about the hospital's problems for some time and should have acted sooner.

"Daniel Andrews' dithering means that the important redevelopment of the Eye and Ear Hospital has been significantly delayed. He has known about the additional costs due to asbestos for a year but failed to deliver the funding so the building work can continue," she said.

With more than 250,000 patients a year, the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital is the state's largest provider of ophthalmology and ear, nose and throat services. The removal of asbestos will be monitored daily by a specialist hygienist and WorkSafe.

Well done premier Andrews fixing up another mess left behind by the incompetent libturds. A good Labor man who gets the job done, not just a talkfest of waffle.