A re-elected Andrews Labor Government will deliver a bigger and better Monash Medical Centre to provide world-class care for families in the south-eastern suburbs, with a massive upgrade to build new operating theatres, create a new intensive care unit and deliver extra beds – as new healthcare worker numbers are released.

For more than 30 years, Monash Medical Centre has been a trusted teaching and research hospital for families in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs.

Whether it’s a visit to set a broken bone, receive life-saving cancer treatment, or welcome a baby – Monash Medical Centre has been there for its community.

Only Labor will make sure it can continue to provide exceptional care for generations to come, because we know that when the Liberals are in power, all they do is cut health funding and go to war with our paramedics and nurses.

Monash has survived repeated Liberal attacks – first, Jeff Kennett’s cuts to the health system meant 80 beds and 50 staff were forced out of the hospital. Then, when Matthew Guy and David Davis were at the Cabinet table, they permanently closed the ’33 North’ Ward at Monash – stripping 24 beds out of the public health system.

Labor is doing what matters – we’ve already delivered an expanded emergency department at Monash Medical Centre. The $76.3 million expansion has created an extra 34 beds, supporting an extra 46,000 patients to receive treatment every year.

We know the hospital needs to grow and adapt to meet the changing needs of the community – and that’s why we’ll take the next step to make Monash Medical Centre even better.

A re-elected Andrews Labor Government will invest $510 – $560 million to massively upgrade Monash Medical Centre, delivering a new operating theatre complex, intensive care unit and birthing suites.

We’ll build a new seven-story tower above the newly-expanded emergency department. The tower will include new operating suites with up to five theatres and 34 pre-op and post-op beds – providing capacity for an extra 7,500 surgeries a year.

The upgrade will also deliver six extra birthing suites – boosting capacity for an additional 2,400 births at Monash every year – as well as refurbishing the existing maternity ward and building a new one to create up to 64 maternity beds.

The new intensive care unit will include up to 28 beds with modern technology and facilities for the sickest patients who need the closest monitoring and care.

The expansion will build up to 108 new inpatient beds for patients who need to stay overnight after surgery or giving birth and will enable Monash Medical Centre to receive an extra 5,500 inpatients every year – providing better care for families in the south-eastern suburbs.

Work on the hospital redevelopment is expected to begin in 2025 and will create more than 1,500 jobs in construction alone.

Labor has invested more than $12 billion in health infrastructure, building the facilities Victorians need. But world-class healthcare is about more than bricks and mortar – so we’re doing what matters by investing in our healthcare workforce, too.

New figures released today show that since coming to government, Labor has recruited more than 26,000 extra healthcare workers – growing the public health workforce by 33 per cent since 2014. The numbers reveal we’ve grown our workforce by nearly 4 percent in just the last 12 months alone.

In the last term, we’ve grown the workforce by more than 18 per cent – around 16,500 workers.

We’re delivering a $270 million healthcare workforce package to deliver free degrees, training and upskilling for the next generation of nurses and midwives.

When these works at Monash Medical Centre are finished, the next generation of healthcare workers will have finished their studies and be ready to get to work in brand-new facilities.

Together with our Pandemic Repair Plan announced earlier this year, we’re training and recruiting an extra 24,000 healthcare workers into our workforce. We have also invested more than $8 billion in our ambulance service and hired almost 2,200 paramedics.

Labor is doing what matters – delivering the hospitals, the healthcare and the workforce Victoria needs.

Quotes attributable to Premier Daniel Andrews

“Almost every family in the south-eastern suburbs has a story of visiting the Monash Medical Centre and receiving exceptional care. Whether it’s for sickness, injury or the birth of a baby, Monash Medical Centre has been there for its community.”

“Labor has already delivered an expanded emergency department – if we’re re-elected, we’ll keep doing what matters and make Monash Medical Centre even better for generations to come.”

Quotes attributable to Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas

“The Liberals have repeatedly attacked Monash – stripping beds out of the public system and cutting staff. Only Labor can be trusted to safeguard the health services thousands of families across the south-east rely on.”

“Delivering world-class healthcare is about more than just building hospitals. That’s why this Government has hired nearly 26,000 healthcare workers  – because we know the best support we can give our workforce is a set of helping hands.”