Bellarine Community Health (BCH) has welcomed the findings of the Infrastructure Victoria Report which has called for an urgent increase in funding to ensure community health organisations can meet growing demand.
Despite providing services to one in 10 Victorians, registered community health organisations receive 0.3 percent of the Victorian government’s $2 billion annual health infrastructure budget.
Infrastructure Victoria’s report, released last week, showed that an increase of 1.5 to 3 percent, would allow community health organisations to expand their reach, co-locate more services, and deliver more community-based healthcare to help reduce hospital admissions.
Opened earlier this year, BCH Child, Youth and Family Hub in Ocean Grove shows how investing in infrastructure can improve health and wellbeing Outcomes, BCH said.
Funding for stage one of the Ocean Grove project was provided through the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, and the Anthony Costa Foundation, with the land in Kingston Estate Ocean Grove donated by the Corless Family Trust.
“The hub was designed to support the health, development and wellbeing of local children and young people by co-locating our child and youth teams and providing a streamlined pathway for local families to access services,” BCH chief executive Kathy Russell said.
“Our youngest clients now have access to facilities that support the best early intervention models of care, and our staff are housed in facilities that are fit for purpose.
“We’ve only managed to secure funding for the first stage, but this project is a great example of where the state government should partner with us and invest in infrastructure that would deliver a valuable outcome for the community.
“The majority of community services provided to children is state funded, yet the state is not contributing to the infrastructure. We have already delivered stage one to the highest possible standard and we are ready to go with stage two if we can secure funding.”
While programs such as the Rural Health Infrastructure Fund are intended to support community health, no rural or regional community health service received infrastructure funding in the 2024-25 financial year, BCH said.
Community Health First, which represents all metropolitan and rural and regional independent community health services, supported the findings of the Infrastructure Victoria report.
The report found that by 2036, organisations in growth areas such as the Bellarine Peninsula will have to cater for more than double the number of people living there.
