The Allan Labor Government is expanding the logistics capabilities of Maryborough and District Hospital, awarding the health service a multi-million-dollar grant for a new Support Services Hub.

Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas today announced more than $4.3 million has been delivered to the health service through the Regional Health Infrastructure Fund (RHIF) to undertake the project – a facility that will be critical to meeting demand once the $115 million redevelopment and expansion of Maryborough and District Hospital is complete.

An expanded and modern logistics hub will provide an increased capacity for supplies storage and handling, enhance linen services and improve waste management – with the upgraded facility also set to improve staff safety and reduce the risk of injury with more ergonomic equipment such as bin lifters to reduce manual handling.

The Support Services Logistics hub will also include a range of ‘green’ initiatives to enhance sustainability efforts, including an electrical vehicle charging station to reduce energy use, transport emissions and waste.

Construction on the Support Services Hub will start soon, with the project set to create and support an additional 24 local construction jobs, with the hospital redevelopment slated for completion later this year.

Once operational, the redeveloped hospital will deliver the best care for the local community closer to home, with new maternity services, an urgent care centre and a 32-bed inpatient unit – this is in addition to a $4 million, 20-bed student accommodation building completed in December last year.

With 45 projects across 39 rural and regional health services in Victoria, RHIF is ensuring communities continue to be able to access high quality care, no matter where they live. Work delivering these projects will also support the creation of hundreds of jobs across the state.

The RHIF – now worth $790 million – provides funding to rural and regional health services and agencies across Victoria so these services can continue to provide safe and efficient care to local communities.

Since establishing the program in 2016, the Labor Government has funded more than 675 projects for regional health services – the largest investment ever dedicated to our rural and regional health services.

For more information vhba.vic.gov.au/health/regional-facilities/regional-health-infrastructure-fund.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Health Infrastructure Mary-Anne Thomas

“This new state-of-the-art Support Services Hub will provide crucial healthcare supply and logistics services to the new Maryborough and District Hospital – this funding will help deliver this project and invest in local jobs too.”

“The new hub also brings us a step closer to delivering the hospital redevelopment and providing people in Maryborough and across the region with access to the care they need, close to home.”

Quote attributable to Member for Ripon Martha Haylett

"This further investment in Maryborough’s health care services is significant for our region – the new logistics hub will help support the redeveloped hospital in a safe and environmentally friendly way”.