Warrnambool overlooked for state government primary care centre

The new centres are designed to take pressure off local hospital emergency departments by treating patients with non-urgent problems like mild infections, fractures or burns. Nine of the 25 centres are in regional Victoria and Warrnambool is easily the largest city in the state to miss out.

The announcement also leaves almost the whole of western Victoria without a new centre, with the closest ones announced in Ballarat and Geelong.

The omission comes just two months after Warrnambool Base Hospital recorded some of the worst ED wait times in the state. Among regional hospitals only Geelong patients were waiting longer than those in Warrnambool with several elderly patients forced to wait for nine or more hours in extreme pain.

The Standard asked South West Healthcare whether it had lobbied the state government to be included in the priority primary care centre program, but they didn't respond directly. A spokesperson said "South West Healthcare welcomes the Victorian government's ongoing support for regional health".

SWH set up the South West Medical Centre in 2012 to take pressure off the hospital, but after a staff exodus in 2022 it is operating at a fraction of its full capacity.

The Standard also asked the government whether SWH had requested a primary care centre for Warrnambool. A spokesperson said Warrnambool had been given a state-run GP respiratory clinic in 2022, which would keep some people out of the ED.

The spokesperson said the locations of the new centres - which aside from Ballarat and Geelong include Bendigo, Mildura, Wodonga, Shepparton, Warragul and Sunbury - were chosen based on population, ED demand and community need.

The government also said it had "made almost $2 million worth of enhancements to the Warrnambool Base Hospital ED to improve patient flow and reduce wait times". When asked what these enhancements were, the government said they included staffing and recruitment assistance, as well as infrastructure and systems upgrades.

But a SWH spokesperson said the enhancements hadn't actually occurred yet, and work was "currently in the planning phase", so they could not yet say exactly what the upgrades the $1.9m would pay for.

"The... funding allocated to South West Healthcare from the Victorian Government, will enable us to make some infrastructure changes to the current Warrnambool Base Emergency Department to improve our service whilst we await the major redevelopment, due for completion in 2026," the spokesperson said.

"We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with the Victorian Government into the future."