By Christine Couzens, Member For Geelong
Talk to anyone born in Geelong before the mid-1990s and odds are they were born in Baxter House.
Baxter House was part of the Geelong Hospital and is the building on the south-west corner of Ryrie Street and Bellerine St. Geelong Private Hospital was on this site from the mid-1990s until last month when it closed with only a few weeks’ notice.
Up until then, Geelong had three private hospitals and one public hospital.
In 2010 the previous Liberal government had promised a second public hospital for Geelong, to be built south of the river. However, this did not occur.
Instead, the Private Epworth Hospital was built at Deakin University, Waurn Ponds.
The Geelong region was unable to sustain three large private hospitals, which led to the closure of Ryrie St’s Geelong Private.
The Andrews Government immediately invested $10 million to identify options to transform that site into a women’s and children’s hospital for Geelong.
The study is looking at options to deliver additional maternity and paediatric services for Geelong families, as well as more inpatient beds, delivery rooms, operating theatres and clinics for the growing community.
I’m also proud that a re-elected Labor Government will help more Victorians train as a nurse or midwife, with a new $50 million Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Development Fund. This will employ 400 enrolled nurses over the next four years, with many of these placements to be within Barwon Health and the new women’s and children’s hospital.
You will be able to study a Graduate Diploma of Nursing for free at the Gordon Institute of TAFE as one of the Labor Governments free priority TAFE courses and then start working as an enrolled nurse at Geelong University Hospital or the new women’s and children’s hospital.
These combined initiatives of the Andrews’ Labor Government will provide a co-ordinated advancement of women’s and children’s health services in Geelong.
