The Victorian Liberals today pledged $12 million to redevelop the Urgent Care Centre at Daylesford Hospital if elected at the November state election.
The commitment, announced at the Hospital by Shadow Health Minister, Georgie Crozier MP and Liberal Candidate for Macedon Kate Kendall, would fund upgrades intended to address capacity, patient privacy, security and access constraints at the 160-year-old hospital.
Ms Crozier said the centre had not kept pace with the needs of the community and that the redevelopment would improve access to timely care for residents of Daylesford and surrounding districts. The hospital serves communities across the state electorates of Macedon and Ripon, as well as visitors to the region.
Liberal candidate for Macedon Kate Kendall said improving the hospital had strong community support. She also argued that the hospital needed to accommodate the additional demand associated with Daylesford’s popularity as a tourist destination.
The announcement follows several years of community campaigning for a broader upgrade of the hospital. In late 2021, local residents concerned about the hospital’s condition raised $100,000 in less than eight weeks to fund a master plan. Central Highlands Rural Health commissioned and endorsed the plan in 2022.
The campaign sought bipartisan support for an upgrade commitment ahead of the 2022 state election. Although the Liberal candidate at the time committed to funding the master plan, there was little prospect of a Liberal government being elected or of the commitment being fulfilled.
The pledge announced today raises the prospect of a significant investment in the hospital’s urgent care facilities, although the proposed funding remains an election commitment rather than an approved project. At the upcoming election, polling suggests that there is a very real possibility of a change of government and therefore a much greater chance of the urgent care development being funded.
The state Labor government has previously funded improvements at the hospital. A $4.5 million allocation initially secured in 2021 for operating theatre upgrades was subsequently revised to $6.14 million, with the works completed in 2024. The theatre project was separate from the master plan process.
Mary-Anne Thomas, the retiring member for Macedon and former health minister, has resisted calls from local campaigners for a commitment to the hospital’s longer-term redevelopment.
On Thursday, Ms Thomas referred to previous funding for the operating theatre upgrade in a Facebook post congratulating Central Highlands Rural Health on being named the Premier’s Small Health Service of the Year at the Victorian Public Healthcare Awards.
Ms Thomas described the award as recognition of the care provided across the region, including hospital and residential aged care services, community health programs and women’s health services. “In 2024, Labor delivered more than $6 million in upgrades at CHRH, including improvements to the operating theatres, helping strengthen the facilities that support their vital work,” she said.
Daylesford Hospital Upgrade Committee chair Lesley Hewitt welcomed the Liberal announcement and called on Labor to match it.
“Daylesford Hospital has suffered an overall underinvestment,” Ms Hewitt said. “We are now asking the running Labor candidate to match this wonderful announcement for Urgent Care for the hospital. It’s the right thing to do.”
This article is based in part on a media release from the office of Georgie Crozier MP.
