The New South Wales and Victorian governments have announced a plan to deliver a $558 million redevelopment of Albury Base Hospital to service the Albury-Wodonga region.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews met at the Albury Base Hospital to make the announcement this morning.
Both state governments have committed an additional $225 million, in addition to $108 million already invested by the NSW and Commonwealth governments.
Mr Perrottet said the announcement was "a great example of co-operation across political lines to achieve the best result for those in and across the state border".
"We always wanted to get this done, it had to be done well, we had to get the plans and our health infrastructure teams on the same page — today we do that."
Mr Andrews said the government would make sure healthcare workers and local communities on both sides of the Murray had the facilities they needed as the border region continued to grow.
"What today's about is making sure the quality of the buildings matches the quality of care and skill and compassion that our staff have for their patients," he said.
"It's one of the biggest projects ever undertaken in this proud community."
A state-of-the-art site in Albury
Today's funding announcement will cover the first three stages of a five-point master plan developed by Albury Wodonga Health.
The redevelopment will bring all services together at a state-of-the-art site in Albury.
Currently, Albury-Wodonga hospital services are split across two locations, meaning some patients have to travel back and forth between the twin towns to access different treatments.
Albury Base Hospital will operate throughout construction as services currently being delivered at the Wodonga campus are transferred across.
When that process is complete, both governments will redevelop the Wodonga campus into "a facility that meets the needs of the community".
The redeveloped hospital will include a new clinical services building, operating theatres, a helipad with direct access to the intensive care unit, emergency department and neonatal care.
It will also see a 32-bed mental health ward built, replacing the Nolan House Mental Health Unit, as well as the expansion of outpatient and specialist spaces for treatments such as dialysis.
Construction of the three stages that received funding today is expected to create 1,000 jobs, commencing in 2024 to be finished by 2027.
Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy has committed $300 million to go towards building a new facility if elected in November.
Mixed reaction from local sector
The funding announcement comes after public rallies and petitions for a new hospital for the border community.
Patients and staff said the current facilities were compromising care.
Albury Wodonga Health Board chair Matt Burke said the redevelopment would help clinicians "get on with delivering better care" for the community.
Border Medical Association treasurer Phillip Steele said it was heartening to see governments work together on the project, however, the association would have strongly preferred an entirely new greenfield facility.
"The devil will be in the detail of how this will actually evolve," he said.
"The master planning process, which was very extensive, considered the greenfield option was the better one."
NSW Nurses and Midwife Association branch president Geoff Hudson said he would have preferred an entirely new hospital at a different site.
"But honestly at the end of the day, what we need is a new hospital and this announcement does go a long way towards that," he said.
Mr Perrottet said the decision to redevelop the Albury facility was based on the advice from the Victorian and NSW health departments and infrastructure teams.
