A NEW base hospital for the south-west should be built at Deakin University, according to the chair of the South West Healthcare Community Advisory Committee James Purcell.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Mr Purcell, who is also a Western Victorian upper house parliament member and recently announced candidate for the lower house seat of South West Coast, stunned insiders when he declared his position on Tuesday morning.
There has already been $112 million spent on the first stage redevelopment of the Warrnambool Base Hospital at its current city central site, and a further $7.5 million on drawing up plans for stage two of the redevelopment.
Mr Purcell said that after going through the design process, he realised the region could have a new base hospital for the same money as it would cost to redevelop the existing site.
"Stage two is going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars," he said.
"I've been listening to the concerns of people about parking, traffic and even having a helipad in the middle of town.
"I have no doubt the best location for a new hospital is at Deakin University.
"At a new greenfields site we will get twice as much for the same money."
Mr Purcell said he expected that stage two of the Warrnambool Base Hospital redevelopment would cost more than $400 million.
"I understand it's north of $400 million and no one has committed to that," he said.
"The Liberal (Party) pledged they will do whatever it costs but there's no doubt work needs to be done.
"The hospital has been good where it has been for the last 50 plus years, but for the next 50 years it's not in the right place."
Mr Purcell said that through his position as chair of the South West Healthcare Community Advisory Committee he had listened to and seen thousands of community comments.
"Nurses, doctors and services all say that the hospital needs to be upgraded and bigger," he said.
"The designs and costing have been done but not divulged by the Labor Government.
"The department won't tell me what the costing is. I believe it's north of $400 million for the next upgrade stage.
"You can't just do an upgrade, you have to have an ongoing hospital providing services."
Mr Purcell said to provide those services at the current site, another building had to be constructed, hospital services had to be moved and then the redevelopment could be undertaken.
"There are complications with such an extensive expansion at an existing site," he said.
"The future is at Deakin, especially when you consider the tie-in with medical research, doctor and nurse training.
"I want to see a new hospital. Politically it's bad for me and I'll be accused of wasting time, money and effort, but when we took this on we didn't know the answers and now we do.”
Mr Purcell said moving the hospital to Deakin was not a new idea.
"People had given up but now it's my preferred option," he said.
"If you are doing the wrong thing, don't keep putting money into it. We need to stop and consider what is the best option for the long-term future and that’s Deakin with a new greenfields site.”
Napthine says Purcell has gone “off the reservation”
Former Victorian Premier Denis Napthine said James Purcell had "gone off the reservation" in suggesting moving the Warrnambool Base Hospital to Deakin University.
"This came up 10 years ago and the overwhelming view of the Warrnambool community, staff at the hospital, medical specialists and central business district traders was that hospital should remain in the centre of town," he said.
"There's been over $100 million spent on stage one of the redevelopment at the current site.
"It would be extraordinary to want to throw all that in the bin and start from scratch at Deakin University."
Dr Napthine said he understood the coalition was fully committed to supporting stage two of the redevelopment, for which costing had not been released but was tipped to cost about $400 million.
"That's a figure I've heard but I've seen no evidence to support it," he said.
"Mr Purcell is chairing a committee looking at the redevelopment and now he's gone completely off the reservation.
"I'm not sure if it’s his view as James Purcell the individual or his view as chair of the committee."
The former state premier said the community had largely funded the construction of a new cancer treatment centre next door to the hospital.
"Are we to move it? That's the nonsense of it all. Is this just further delaying tactics. It's extraordinary, stage one has already been built,” he said.
“No support for proposal”: ministerial advisory group
Warrnambool Base Hospital board chairman Russell Worland said Mr Purcell’s view did not represent the views of the ministerial advisory group.
"The committee did discuss his views at its last meeting and there was no support for James' proposal," he said.
"In the early stages of stage two planning a greenfields site was considered.
"A greenfields site did not emerge as a realistic option due to the significant capital investment in the current site, including stage one of the redevelopment, the integrated community health centre in Koroit Street and the newly established cancer centre."
Mr Worland said that apart from the community investment tied to the cancer centre, there was strongly community backing for the Rotary House facility.
"The advisory group process did reveal the issue of car parking pressures and this has been taken on board in respect to master planning for the site," he said..
"A 325-space car park is planned in future stages.”
Warrnambool cancer centre advocate Vicki Jellie, who is also on the hospital community advisory committee, said any suggestion to move the hospital to Deakin University was Mr Purcell's personal opinion.
"That's not a committee decision," she said.
"I'd really rather say nothing. Years ago when the first upgrade was discussed a greenfields site was considered.
"That was time to do it and that time has passed. If it was going to be done it should have been done then ... it's now too late."
Ms Jellie said it may be time to consider a greenfields site in another 25 years, when there has been more growth in Warrnambool.
She said in relation to the cancer centre, if the hospital was to move to Deakin it would have little impact.
"Nothing will change there. The cancer centre doesn’t need to be near a hospital. It doesn't make any difference," she said.
Ms Jellie said it was unlikely the hospital would now move to Deakin.
"It's more than likely not going to happen. It's too late. We've got to go with what we've got," she said.
Uni move “wasteful”: Britnell
An elected Liberal National Government will get on and do what needs to be done to rebuild the Warrnambool Base Hospital’s emergency department and operating theatres, Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell said.
But Mrs Britnell said it was impossible to put a dollar amount to it – because costings are being kept secret by the Labor Government.
“The last time I met with the hospital board with Shadow Minister for Health Mary Wooldridge, we were told the Labor Government was keeping the costings confidential and that the board did not even know what the figure was,” Mrs Britnell said.
“The previous masterplan had the project costed at around $100 million – we put that money on the table in 2014 and we remain committed to getting the job done.
“Once we know the costings, we’ll be able to put a price on it. But the commitment to upgrade these vital parts of the hospital stands, as it has for the past four years.”
Mrs Britnell also said James Purcell’s idea to move the hospital to Deakin University was wasteful because it was now too late.
“James has just spent $7.5 million of taxpayers money drawing up plans for a redevelopment at the current hospital site – now he says he thinks it should be moved,” she said.
“Why didn’t he come up with this idea before he spent the money?
“The time to talk about moving the hospital was 10 years ago – it was considered and vehemently rejected. It makes no sense to move the hospital now after $112 million was spent on the stage one development and $30 million was spent building our wonderful cancer centre in that area.
“I think the community has to ask if this hair brain scheme is just James Purcell and his mates in the Labor Party again trying to delay funding stage two of the hospital redevelopment or is it just another ploy to grab a headline?”
