Victoria health has announced it is to recommission old hospital wards and open 129 new hospital beds as it ramps up its effort to manage the COVID-19 health crisis.
A $437 million boost for the health system has been announced by the Premier, Daniel Andrews and Minister for Health, Jenny Mikakos to provide new beds, additional equipment, funding for EDs and ICUs, as well as additional resourcing for pandemic containment activities.
“More than $80 million will be invested in bringing more beds online over the next 12 weeks, in time for the peak of the pandemic,” Mr Andrews said.
“Baxter House will be recommissioned to keep regional Victorians safe – with consulting rooms and virus clinic capacity at Barwon Health,” he said.
“Victoria’s hospitals will be better prepared for the significant and prolonged increase in demand with a $115 million injection.”
Mr Andrews said $107 million would go toward life-saving equipment, including 4,000 high-flow oxygen therapy units for patients in acute respiratory failure, 130 dialysis machines and 1,200 patient monitors.
“An extra $22 million of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)… will keep workers safe while they help others,” he said.
“This is in addition to the $10 million for PPE previously announced.”
He said a further $97 million would be set aside to backfill the healthcare workforce in the event that staff needed to self-isolate through exposure or infection.
He said $37 million would go toward increasing surveillance, allowing for more targeted case identification, contact tracing, isolation advice and confirmation of individuals who were no longer infectious.
Mr Andrews said the contact tracing team would increase from 57 to 230 people.
