A RE-ELECTED Andrews Labor government will spend $562 million to build an 11-storey tower at Frankston Hospital.
The announcement was made at the hospital by Premier Daniel Andrews and state health minister Jill Hennessy on Monday morning.
Building will start in 2020 with completion by 2024. The project will include 120 beds, two operating theatres, maternity ward, obstetrics ward, women’s clinic, children’s ward and special care nursery.
Two floors will accommodate mental health services. An integrated cancer ward and day clinic will treat people who currently have to travel to Melbourne for treatment.
Mr Andrews said the project would create up to 1700 jobs during construction. “This will be the biggest upgrade to an outer suburban hospital in the state’s history,” he said.
He said more people were choosing to make Frankston home and the region was experiencing a baby boom. By 2032, there would be about 3000 babies a year born at the hospital.
Ms Hennessy said the expansion would cater to an expected extra 10,000 patients a year.
Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke said the project would “create good, secure jobs for people in Frankston and give local families world-class healthcare close to home.”
First published in the Western Port News – 11 September 2018
