By Steph McNicol
SEYMOUR Health Urgent Care Centre patients can now expect a better service after a $1.62 million upgrade.
After many months of planning and construction, the urgent care centre opened its refurbished doors at an official re-opening on Friday, to show off a new reception area, waiting room, private consultation rooms and an ambulance bay.
The Seymour Urgent Care Centre will now be able to provide quality health care to its patients with the new design as opposed to its previous layout which provided limited care.
The project was funded through the State Government’s $350 million Regional Health Infrastructure Fund, which aims to deliver upgrades for regional and rural health and aged care services.
Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes, who attended the opening ceremony, said it was important for Seymour residents to receive efficient health care services.
“Hospitals are often a hub for the community; a lot of people have to visit them and are connected to them in some way,” Ms Symes said.
“Having quality facilities is a really important demonstration to the community that they can receive quality health care close to home.”
Seymour Health chief executive Chris McDonnell said the new design would provide better care for patients.
“You almost have to look at the pictures from the start, and it was not functional. What we had was an urgent care centre which was quite busy,” Mr McDonnell said.
“We could fit about four or five people here at the start and that became a problem for us to provide services, so that was our priority – to provide better services.
“This is the end result of Jaclyn’s contribution and close to $2 million in funding, we’ve got a great urgent care facility and one that we can access.”
A $3.17 million redevelopment of Seymour’s Barrabill House – a 30-bed aged care facility – start mid-2020.
