By Aleksandra Bliszczyk
Kilmore District Hospital will receive State Government funding for several upgrades to both the hospital and its Dianella Hostel aged care facility.
Kilmore District Health will receive $2,702,505 from round five funding from Victoria’s Regional Health Infrastructure Fund to begin a process of carpark upgrades; and to undertake theatre construction works and upgrade equipment that enables reprocessing of reusable medical devices.
Chief executive David Naughton said the carpark funding would allow the hire of a civil engineer to design a fully-bitumen carpark, with improved signage, clearer lines and better entrances and exits.
“There’s a lot of historical issues with car parking here as campuses grow, so this is about making sure all the car parking, access and entrances are in line with contemporary access,” he said.
Seymour Health has also received $4,670,000 to contribute to safer parking and improved pathway connectivity.
The theatre upgrades are a statewide initiative alongside a change to national standards that require all providers to review their sterilisation processes, which Mr Naughton said was a forward-thinking move on the government’s part.
“This is a fantastic thing to get this grant, it allows us over the next year to plan and allow the works,” he said.
Aged care
As one of 21 successful public sector aged care recipients of the $10 million Rural Residential Aged Care Facilities Renewal Program, KDH’s Dianella Hostel will receive a new nurse call and emergency communication response system.
The renewal program supports improvement projects for aged care residents to help meet the growing demand for services in regional and rural Victoria.
The new communication response system will see nurse call buttons replaced in every room on a new, more reliable network.
Mr Naughton said the previous system was not broken but was quite old and needed to be replaced to ensure it would continue to work best for patients and staff.
“They are being upgraded because it’s an old system that are no longer as good as they could be,” Mr Naughton said.
“It will be a state-of-the-art system for people to use, really reliable and will improve communication between staff and patients, especially after hours.”
Mr Naughton, who is due to depart his role on October 15, said the upgrades were part of an ongoing process of monitoring and upgrading the hospital’s facilities.
Nexus Primary Health will receive $90,000 for safety and site improvements.
