Ballarat hospital redevelopment enters construction as first buildings are handed over

Construction workers have broken ground on the final stages of Ballarat's $650 million hospital redevelopment after the first two buildings in the Grampians Health campus expansion were handed over to clinical staff.

The Grampians Health Ballarat project, the largest health infrastructure investment in regional Victoria's history, will ultimately deliver a new emergency department with 60 treatment spaces, a 120-bed inpatient ward tower, expanded surgical suites, and a purpose-built cancer treatment centre. The first buildings to open include a new specialist outpatient building and a refurbished mental health unit.

Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas visited the site with Premier Jacinta Allan on Wednesday, saying the project would transform the region's capacity to treat complex cases locally, reducing the need for patients to travel to Melbourne. "Regional Victorians deserve world-class healthcare without having to leave their communities," Ms Thomas said.

Grampians Health chief executive Craig Fraser said the new emergency department alone would increase treatment capacity by 35 per cent at a facility that currently sees more than 60,000 presentations per year. The expanded surgical theatres would allow the health service to eliminate its elective surgery backlog within three years, he said.

Construction of the inpatient ward tower is expected to be completed by mid-2027, with the cancer centre to follow later that year.

This article was compiled by AI from the sources linked above and screened before publishing. See our editorial standards.